Stonehenge Apocalypse

When I first stumbled across this film, the idea struck me that this would make for a brilliant game or computer program in which you, or the computer, come up with film titles by simply making two columns. On the first column you have locations or major world landmarks and on the second column you write down calamitous events so - and some of these may already be in production - you could have films such as Empire State Building Massacre, Tower Bridge Inferno or Sydney Opera House Holocaust. You properly get my drift. This was all triggered by seeing the words 'Stonehenge' and 'Apocalypse' written next to each other and, aside from coming up with this idea for a film title generator game, my initial thought was 'that sounds great - I have to see this film.'

Anyway, on with Stonehenge Apocalypse which, during the opening credits, shows a mysterious DJ saying that 'we are here because we want the real story" before a brief shot of Stonehenge and then onto Maine where an archaeological dig 10,000 feet underground is taking place but exactly what the team are after is left unexplained. All you know is that they have an amulet of some sort and know exactly what they are looking for so, when they find it, the amulet is attracted to the engraving on the wall and suddenly triggers a huge electromagnetic surge between Maine and Stonehenge in Wiltshire. Cut to an amateur radio station somewhere in the US where Dr. Jacob Glaser has detected the electromagnetic anomaly which has so far gone unreported by major news agencies and the US government but, being a conspiracy theorist who believes the US government has found a robot head on the moon and kept the whole thing quiet, isn't at all surprised.

It appears that the electromagnetic burst between Maine and Wiltshire has somehow awakened the famous stones as, during a guided tour of the mystical site, the 'altar stone' begins glowing and sends a signal to the other rocks which sparkle with electricity and, in the midst of this electromagnetic mayhem, the famous rock formation moves, sending out a pulse that instantly eradicates the tour party. When Jacob Glaser arrives in England, he sneaks up on the site, now cordoned off and full of military personnel and scientists and government officials and is able to take some photographs and readings of the amount of electromagnetic energy in the air before he is discovered and arrested.

In charge of the official operation are Dr. Kaycee Leeds and Dr. John Trousdale who have very different methods of working and approaching the situation. Whereas Kaycee is prepared to hear what Jacob Glaser has to say, Dr. Trousdale, who has already dismissed him as a crank who 'believes that aliens lived on the moon', wants nothing to do with the American and has him locked up. As everyone is based in a primary school 2 miles away from Stonehenge, 'locked up' means that Glaser is handcuffed to a school chair and placed (under armed guard) in the gymnasium!

There are various different electronic pulses coming from Stonehenge and, when one of them is run through a filter, a counter appears on the screen ticking down from just over 37 hours. The problem is, no one knows what will happen when the clock reaches 0:00 but, Glaser has drawn numerous lines on a map of the world charting the major electromagnetic currents with the major points all being ancient places of worship such as the pyramids in Egypt and in Java, Indonesia.


It seemed becomes clear that Stonehenge is the hub of all activity as, every few hours, the electromagnetic cycle begins again and one of the other major sites 'detonates', flattening a huge area of land and sending a massive cloud of dust into the atmosphere. Eventually, they realise that the clock is ticking down to the Apocalypse when everything will explode and the world will end. Fortunately, Glaser, who has escaped with the help of Kaycee, has done some research and knows that a stone can defuse Stonehenge and prevent the Apocalypse.

Stonehenge Apocalypse is a fairly typical SyFy Channel film with ropey production values and an occasionally laughable script but, nevertheless, it seems to know exactly what it is and doesn't have any ideas beyond its station. None of the actors are 'names' apart from perhaps Peter Wingfield who will be instantly recognisable to those who follow the Stargate TV show or Casualty, where he played a doctor for several years.

Paul Ziller, who co-wrote the film with Brad Abraham, does a reasonably good job at keeping the film nice and pacey so there are very few slow moments and the action moves from New England to the English Home Counties and North Africa without ever leaving British Columbia! Some aspects of this reminded me a little of Roland Emmerich's 2012 but I actually enjoyed this a lot more because it wasn't so dependent on CGI and, though the actors seem to be taking everything very seriously, this isn't as loud, overblown or boring as Emmerich's CGI-fest and the 87 minute running time passed extremely quickly.

The Disc

Extra Features
Unsurprisingly, there is no feature commentary on many hours of supplementary material, so the disc contains:

Stonehenge Apocalypse: Behind The Scenes (28:51) begins with short interviews with members of the cast and crew talking about their characters and the film but then it gets a bit more in-depth as they talk about the sets whilst corresponding footage plays or go on set.

You also have a trailer.


The Picture
Presented in anamorphic 1.78:1, the film looks very good with good clarity, strong colours and fairly deep contrast levels so the overall picture is very pleasing and the detail levels don't drop very much in the lowlight scenes.

Whilst I was watching this, I didn't realise this was all shot in and around Vancouver and assumed it was a British-based production but it does make sense as many US productions are filmed in Canada which can double for so many locations around the world. The fields, forestry and roads looked very British and they have numerous right-hand drive vehicles to add to the sense of authenticity.

The model work used to create Stonehenge is actually very impressive and the rocks certainly don't look like giant polystyrene blocks (or whatever they were carved from) and the impression is of a real rock formation. The CGI is of a similar quality with certain aspects looking extremely good and others looking a little ropey - the transformation and explosion of the Pyramids of Giza looks extremely fake but, in general, this is better than your average SyFy Channel film.

The Sound
The only audio option is a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo one which does a very good job with the dialogue and more expansive effects such as explosions and lightning storms. A 5.1 surround option would've been optimum is that really would have made more of an impact when you have three people in a SUV which is driving away from a collapsing ziggurat whilst the road cracks open behind them, but I was happy enough with the stereo option and didn't expect anything more.


Final Thoughts
Stonehenge Apocalypse is a great title for a film as it draws on one of the most famous and mysterious world Heritage sites which no one knows, with 100% certainty, who built it, why and when. As far as I'm concerned, the fact that it was immortalised in This Is Spinal Tap (albeit because there was confusion between feet and inches) makes it one of the world's greatest ancient monuments and the British equivalent of the Sphinx or the Pyramids of Giza.

As far as the film goes, it is extremely watchable and anyone who likes the sort of movies they put on the SyFy Channel is bound to like this as it is a step above the likes of Mega Piranha but far from the greatest science fiction film of recent years. I imagine this is the sort of film that would go down very well when watched with a group of friends, a good selection of snacks and enough beers to last the evening.