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Johannes Bergsma's review of SCP: OVERLORD
Date last edited: 10-03-2021 at 10:16AM
Rating: Not Rated
Review: Film: SCP: Overlord Director: Stephen Hancock Writer: Evan Muir Genre: Terror/Surreal/Thriller My Rating: 5 stars Intended Audience: Mature Adults Distributed on YouTube, Released in 2020 A trailer may be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrZUj1fNQL8
SCP: Overlord is an independently produced YouTube film directed by Stephen Hancock and written by Evan Muir. The film is a 35-minute thriller with surreal and cosmic horror elements. It’s based loosely on a body of internet fiction called the SCP Project, which revolves around a fictional worldwide organization (the SCP Foundation) dedicated to cataloguing, containing, and defending against anomalous forces and entities – at any cost. The directors, writers, and contributors to this film have produced fan films based on this fictional setting before, but Overlord goes to unprecedented lengths to produce a complete and professional screenplay. SCP: Overlord can be enjoyed without knowledge of the minutiae of SCP canon; however, the film makes more sense when the overall project is taken into account. In my review I will refer to elements of SCP fiction that are not made explicit within the film. However, this is a review for Overlord alone, and not the SCP Project. There are moderate spoilers in my review. Production Quality: There’s no doubt that SCP: Overlord is a quality production. The sets – the deep forests of New England and a rural farmhouse – are well chosen, vividly real, and serve to heighten the tension. The body acting is natural and clearly well-rehearsed. Only occasionally does the voice acting fall short. The producers seem to have researched and practiced real-world techniques for police and SWAT operations, though I’m not well-informed enough to say if the procedures used are entirely authentic. The music in the film is mostly white noise and ambient drone, while percussive or horn accents are used to accompany moments of tension. The producers used appropriate discretion and reserve when choosing how to accentuate scenes with or without music. All this is made more impressive in light of Overlord being an “indie” film. Questionable Content: It’s implicit in the film (but explicit in SCP fiction) that the Foundation is operating extrajudicially. The Foundation takes serious actions outside the rule of law and without the consent of those affected; the list of operations mentioned in the film alone include: detaining bystanders and witnesses, manipulating and recording police proceedings, and large-scale use of mind-wiping chemicals to remove or manipulate sensitive data from witnesses. While sometimes police, military, and government forces take drastic action to achieve (hopefully) positive goals, the fundamental difference is that the SCP Foundation works without the consent of the governed. They are answerable to no one and are virtually invisible to the average citizen. This is thought-provoking and raises questions: what measures are right to take for the safety of others? What if the threat is overpowering and incredibly deadly (as in the film)? Is it morally permissible to keep others safe against their will? What if that means abrogating their freedom of speech, thought, and movement? It should be noted that, outside of the film, the ethics of the SCP Foundation are hotly debated within the fictional setting. Furthermore, the actions taken by Foundation agents in the film are relatively tame; typical SCP fiction gives us a darker image of the amoral Foundation. The film contains graphic violence and a handful of deaths. One death is especially sudden and graphic as a character is knifed in the neck and bleeds out. Jesus’ name is used a few times with other sporadic language. Overlord features generally disturbing imagery, including an (abstract) burning effigy, masked cultists, and dark backdrops. The film’s antagonistic presence is an “anomaly”, a force of cosmic horror. Despite providing a worthy opponent for heroic humans, the film’s plot (and the SCP setting as a whole) give an ultimately hopeless picture of humanity besieged by malign, cosmic entities. This “Lovecraftian” setting is disassociated from reality and demoralizes the viewer (granted, it’s for the purpose of “a good scare”) and has no place in the real world’s balance of good vs. evil (theology etc.). The film doesn’t attempt to paint this setting as an accurate real-world analogue. Positive Content: Although the film’s most visible antagonists are a religious cult, the film does not use this as a mechanism to malign religion. The cult is depicted in a vague sense as a “Transcendentalist” group, and are implied to have been driven mad or coerced into serving the cosmic entity that is behind the film’s dark events. One of the cult’s members apparently showed remorse and trepidation at his leader’s wicked actions and rebelled (though he is shown to have committed suicide before the protagonist’s arrival). The Foundation mission in the film is prompted by news of missing persons and is at least partially considered a rescue operation (although this goal is soon sidelined). Despite the Foundation’s lack of ethical limits, the goal of saving humanity from evil or amoral forces is admirable. Without a doubt the squad of protagonists is being sent in to save lives and stop evil. Said squad of soldiers works professionally and competently as a team. Despite cracking the occasional joke or curse word, they are portrayed as knowing their jobs well and striving to work hard. Some have a cavalier attitude, but they are all evidently willing to risk life and limb for the mission. Even in the most tense situations, the protagonists avoid panic and respond with bravery. The soldiers show respect for fallen comrades and concern for other’s safety, and the squad medic does his best to shelter and save a mortally wounded soldier, despite the seeming impossibility of the task and the incredible danger of the environment. Conclusion: I enjoyed SCP: Overlord. The film provides an example of how a frightening story can be told without resorting to tasteless gore or genre clichés. Unfortunately, the plot doesn’t have a happy ending – more of an ominous cliffhanger. There were missed opportunities in the film for some uplifting content; perhaps moral messages that elevated it beyond “just a scary story”. Still, it’s a good scary story. I applaud the effort and artistic skill with which the directors, writers, producers, actors and all contributors pulled off this project. It is just entertainment, but it’s entertainment done with aplomb.