Alice in Terrorland Review

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most adapted novels to screen and it serves as the inspiration for the horror film Alice in Terrorland.

Alice (Lizzy Willis) is a teenage girl who moves in with her grandmother (Rula Lenska) after her parents die in a house fire. Alice’s grandmother tells the girl she’s named after the character in Lewis Carroll’s most famous work and her house is named ‘Wonderland’. When Alice becomes sick her grandmother reads Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Alice suffers from a dark fever dream.

Alice in Terrorland was made by Richard John Taylor, a man who has a quantity-over-quality approach to filmmaking. He makes three feature-length films a year and if you look at the audience scores on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes they have generally been terrible. The most positive review for Alice in Terrorland came from Matt Donato of Bloody Disgusting and he was lukewarm towards the film.

Taylor is part of a set of British filmmakers who churn films out quickly and cheaply so they can make a fast profit when released. Simon Hattenstone wrote in The Guardian calling Taylor a con man and the piece paints a picture of a man who oversells his credentials, the people involved in his films, and the potential returns for investors.

There’s a growing scene in the UK of filmmakers who have a high volume of output. The most well-known example is the people who made Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, who has a long list of terrible films that struggle to break past a 3.5 rating on IMDB. These are guys promising to make the Poohinverse. On the surface, Alice in Terrorland seems like it’s following the trend of public-domain children’s media getting turned into slashers. Alice in Terrorland didn’t go that down route since it was about Alice meeting numerous strange characters. It was meant to be a dark and twisted journey, but this was a film with no budget: the White Rabbit was a man in a mask, and the Cheshire Cat was a young woman with a Glasgow smile. I don’t know who The Walrus was meant to be.

Some nice scenery was shown in the film, like the woods and waterfall. However, without the natural beauty, the cinematography was woeful. Most of the action took place in dark and dingy buildings and it was hard to tell what was going on. It felt like the filmmakers couldn’t even be bothered to pay for lighting.

Without the references to Carroll’s work Alice in Terrorland would have even less of a story. Since the film took place in Alice’s dream most of the film took place in her mind, and most of the action was weightless. There were attempts at creepy imagery but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t even like The Wizard of Oz where the characters Dorothy met in Oz had a real-world counterpart. Because of the lack of plot, Alice in Terrorland was a slog to go through. It slowly moved from scene to scene with much direction. Alice in Terrorland wasn’t even a fun bad film that could be laughed at because it was too boring.

The only reason I watched Alice in Terrorland was due to one of the actresses sent me a self-tape for my third short film, so I wanted to check out how she was doing. The actress in question did fine in her one scene and she’s capable of better. Hopefully, she will be attached to better roles in short films, TV, and live theatre and build up her showreel. The cast was a mix of young actors and actors who had previously performed in short films and low-budget films, and they were a mixed bag. Many members of the cast have previously appeared in some of Taylor’s other films so he’s loyal to people who he works with.

Alice in Terrorland is a great example of the worst aspects of the modern British film industry: a quick cheapy that’s only made to make a profit. There was no artistic or technical merit to it and ultimately it was made without passion.