The warming and welcoming place for a horror lover called Shudder offers us another low-budget effort, with... J. K. Simmons? Whoa. Ryan Kwanten? I'll take that. And it looks to be lovecraftian? Jackpot! Seriously though, once in a while an imaginative, low-key horror production, an unlikely underdog, inspired by certain loved horror traditions, puts in enough effort to pleasantly surprise and provide awesome oddball entertainment. This is one of those, for all the cosmic horror, and tentacle loving fans out there, and those getting their kicks from weird horror comedies.
This apocalyptic tale starts with Wes (Ryan Kwanten) on the road, following a break-up with his significant other, for at this point very blurry reasons. Tired and stressed, he winds up in a remote rest stop, where the fates of Wes and something otherworldly will collide... For a horror movie that largely takes place alongside toilet stalls and urinals, and features a lovecraftian god glory hole, it is a good one. The concept of "Glorious" is far enough out there to actually work, taking a nice, big spoon from the glowing purple-pinkish soup of lovecraftian horror universe, and with writers challenging the sanity of life itself by asking themselves, what would happen if Lovecraft wrote sit-coms. During its miniscule feature runtime of 78 minutes, for which many do complain, in my opinion, "Glorious" manages to entertain consistently, with never stopping weirdness, little twists, satire and neon-soaked oddities. While Kwanten has given a very good shot at portraying Wes, whose arch I can't speak off, J. K. Simmons delivers an entertaining voice performance, and together they ride out this high-stakes tale in this filthy, but god-blessed rest stop. When the visual effects hit the screen, the budgetary limitations of this lovecraftian epic become very apparent very fast, however, to me the sum of the aesthetic work was equal parts awesome and cheap. It did its job. I'd suppose most of their money went for the two leads.
I'd dare say it's a sure-fire hit for the right genre fans, I definitely enjoyed both the absurdity of "Glorious" and the absurdity of how it worked as well as it did. If this team of filmmakers ever decide to make another beast like this, I'm all up for it. Don't get me wrong, it's flawed, but it takes a risk, and achieves what feels like an unlikely succession. My rating: 7/10.
This apocalyptic tale starts with Wes (Ryan Kwanten) on the road, following a break-up with his significant other, for at this point very blurry reasons. Tired and stressed, he winds up in a remote rest stop, where the fates of Wes and something otherworldly will collide... For a horror movie that largely takes place alongside toilet stalls and urinals, and features a lovecraftian god glory hole, it is a good one. The concept of "Glorious" is far enough out there to actually work, taking a nice, big spoon from the glowing purple-pinkish soup of lovecraftian horror universe, and with writers challenging the sanity of life itself by asking themselves, what would happen if Lovecraft wrote sit-coms. During its miniscule feature runtime of 78 minutes, for which many do complain, in my opinion, "Glorious" manages to entertain consistently, with never stopping weirdness, little twists, satire and neon-soaked oddities. While Kwanten has given a very good shot at portraying Wes, whose arch I can't speak off, J. K. Simmons delivers an entertaining voice performance, and together they ride out this high-stakes tale in this filthy, but god-blessed rest stop. When the visual effects hit the screen, the budgetary limitations of this lovecraftian epic become very apparent very fast, however, to me the sum of the aesthetic work was equal parts awesome and cheap. It did its job. I'd suppose most of their money went for the two leads.
I'd dare say it's a sure-fire hit for the right genre fans, I definitely enjoyed both the absurdity of "Glorious" and the absurdity of how it worked as well as it did. If this team of filmmakers ever decide to make another beast like this, I'm all up for it. Don't get me wrong, it's flawed, but it takes a risk, and achieves what feels like an unlikely succession. My rating: 7/10.