| The Sand | |
| Director: | Isaac Gabaeff |
| Producer: | Gato Scatena Jordan Rosner |
| Music: | Vincent Gillioz |
| Cinematography: | Mat Wise |
| Editing: | Sean Puglisi |
| Distributor: | Taylor and Dodge |
| Runtime: | 84 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
The Sand, also titled Killer Beach, is a 2015 American monster movie directed by Isaac Gabaeff and starring Brooke Butler, Meagan Holder and Mitchel Musso. At least one version of the opening credits reads "Killer Beach", but the closing credits give the movie title as "The Sand."
A group of friends are having a party on the beach. Two of them, Vance and Gilbert, find a large ball covered in a strange gooey substance. The friends put their mobile phones in the trunk of a car in an effort to ensure that no one will post compromising pictures or videos online.
The next morning, two of the friends, Kaylee and Mitch, wake up on the lifeguard shack. Kaylee's boyfriend, Jonah, awakens in a convertible next to Chanda, along with Vance and his girlfriend, Ronnie. Gilbert wakes up, stuck from the waist down in a trash barrel. Marsha wakes up, topless, on top of a picnic table. The rest of the teens, including Heather, are nowhere to be found.
Marsha leaves to find Heather. Kaylee, witnessing a bird suddenly getting sucked into the sand, tries to warn her, but Marsha does not listen and is immediately immobilized by something hidden underneath the beach. Vance falls and has his face eaten off when he touches the sand, and he and Marsha are pulled into the ground. Jonah concludes that the cracked ball from last night must have been an egg, and whatever hatched from it has burrowed under the sand and wiped out everyone, including Vance, Heather, and Marsha.
The group cannot call for help, as their phones are locked in the car, and the car's battery is dead. After some experimenting to determine the creature's reach, Jonah uses two surfboards as a bridge to reach the picnic table. He makes it to the table, but not before the creature has slashed his stomach, leaving a painful wound that starts seeping pus. He notes that the creature won't go near the ashes of the previous night's bonfire, indicating that it hates fire. Ronnie and Chanda attempt to retrieve the phones from the car, but Ronnie gets her fingers crushed under the trunk's lid.
A beach patrolman drives onto the beach. The group warns him, then are shocked to see him walk across the sand unharmed, protected by his boots. But when he drops his keys and tries to retrieve them, the creature consumes him. Kaylee manages to retrieve his pepper spray; Mitch comes up with a plan but falls onto the sand, where the creature kills him.
Kaylee frees Ronnie's fingers from the car trunk, then helps Chanda to reach Jonah on the picnic table. Gilbert discovers that he has cut his stomach on the edge of the trash barrel, attracting the creature. Ronnie trips and is pulled under. In desperation, Chanda follows through with Mitch's plan and runs across the sand to the truck with pepper-sprayed towels on her feet. Gilbert is pulled down and devoured. The creature, having grown much larger tentacles, knocks Chanda unconscious.
At nightfall, Chanda finds a self-inflatable raft in the truck. Kaylee and Jonah use it to reach the patrolman's car. However, the ground erupts and a huge glowing tentacle assaults Kaylee. She manages to get on top of the car and, finding two gas cans on the rear rack, uses them to set one of the tentacles on fire. Kaylee, Chanda, and Jonah lock themselves in the car as the creature's tentacles bash it. Eventually, the attacks stop; Kaylee and Chanda notice that Jonah has died from his injuries and begin to cry over the loss of their friends.
In the morning, the girls are woken by a man tapping on the car window. The creature is gone. They walk across the sand together, traumatized, as the man calls for an ambulance. The creature, revealed to be an enormous jellyfish, is seen in the water, headed towards Santa Monica Pier.
The film was released on DVD by Monarch Video on October 13, 2015.[1]
Critical response for The Sand has been mixed, with criticism of the special effects.
Mike Wilson from Bloody Disgusting gave the film a negative review, stating that while the film's admittedly cheap special effects added a certain charm, and the film's death scenes were disturbing and well-executed; Wilson criticized the film's performances, dialogue, and the film's runtime.[2] Kim Newman wrote in his review of the film, "Though well-acted, smartly-written and nicely directed by Isaac Gabaeff to ratchet up the tension, The Sand suffers from hit-or-miss CGI effects – even the lo-tech practical monster/gore effects of vintage Corman c Attack of the Giant Leeches or Frank Henenlotter in his Basket Case-Brain Damage mode would play better than the glitchy, cartoony pixel-jumble that passes for a monster here".[3] Naila Scargill from Exquisite Terror gave the film a negative review, calling it "arduous", and criticized the lack of screen time of the film's monster, as well as the film's unlikable characters, and special effects.[4] Matt Boiselle from Dread Central awarded the film two out of five stars, writing, "The Sand could be good for a midnight watch where goofiness is happily embraced and the need for creature fun is welcome; however, once the sun comes up, it's best to find a lot of shade from this solar disaster".[5]
Alternately, Michael Therkelsen from Horror Society rated the film a score of eight out of ten, calling it "a campy good time", while also noting the film's cheap special effects didn't fit with the rest of the film.[6] Jennie Kermode of Eye for Film gave the film three and a half out of five stars, commending the film's quick pacing, and likable characters, writing, "It takes skill to make a cheesy creature feature well. The Sand is much smarter than it looks on the surface. Give it time and it will pull you in."[7] Kat Hughes from The Hollywood News offered the film similar praise, writing, "The Sand takes a silly idea and somehow makes it work, helped greatly by the fact that it has got buckets of charm".[8]
"A heap of harmless fun"]
. August 28, 2015. The Hollywood News. August 26, 2021.