Hostile Dimensions (2023) – Film Review

Director: Graham Hughes
Cast: Josie Rogers, Joma West, Graham Hughes
Certificate: 15

By Roger Crow

While major film companies continue to throw enormous budgets at multiverse fantasy adventures, it’s heartening to see a homegrown comedy thriller which probably cost less to make than a day’s catering budget on one of those multiplex offerings.

All you need to make your own multiverse fantasy adventure is a witty script, a crew willing to go the extra mile to get the writer/director’s vision on screen, and a set-up which has made a few quid in the past.

“A gateway to another dimension”

So imagine a version of The Twilight Zone and Monsters Inc (freestanding door/portal to other dimensions); gonzo film footage (The Blair Witch Project) merged with long shots of time-coded domestic normality (Paranormal Activity) blended with the sitcom irreverence of Spaced and you get some of the idea behind Hostile Dimensions.

It starts off with a graffiti artist discovering a freestanding door in a derelict site, and then going missing.

Cut to a couple of flatmates retrieving said door and naturally scoffing at the idea that it could be a gateway to another dimension. Then regretting their decision when they realise it is indeed a portal to somewhere else. That ‘somewhere’ being initially a kids’ play arena with a scary panda. Yes, really.

Treading a fine line between genuinely scary and funny, in a kind of Scooby-Doo style, cast and crew acquit themselves well. Yes, there are times when performances could be a tad more urgent, but don’t let that put you off. There are some nice ideas here, even if we’ve seen many of them before, albeit with a bigger budget. And as we all know, a vast budget does not make a better movie.

“Indie comedy creepfest”

Writer/director/co-producer Graham Hughes has a great film in him, and while Hostile Dimensions isn’t it, the microbudget indie comedy creepfest is an interesting calling card for film studios looking for someone to helm something bigger, like an episode of Loki perhaps. And full marks to Josie Rogers, Joma West and Hughes for giving their all in front of the camera, even if they are upstaged by a god, or rather dog.

Fear not. All will become clear.