The Rig is an eco-horror thriller television drama series created by David Macpherson for Amazon Prime Video. The series is directed by John Strickland, and is the first Amazon Original to be filmed entirely in Scotland. The series follows the crew of the North Sea stationed Kinloch Bravo oil rig who is due to return to the mainland but a mysterious fog rolls in and cuts off communication with the outside world. The crew is driven to the limits of their endurance and loyalties and is forced into a confrontation with forces that are beyond their imagination.
The Rig’s premise instantly recalls that classic 80s scifi-horror film The Thing except that instead of a polar station, the characters are stranded on an oil rig. In addition, the supernatural threat to the crew of Kinloch Bravo is not quite a monster per se but an environmental entity similar to that found in Annihilation. As you can tell already, one main issue with this film is that it wears its influences too obviously on its sleeve. Throw in the presence of a black goo similarly seen in Prometheus and gets very difficult to appreciate this on its own.
Thus, with such an unoriginal premise, it’s up to the ensemble cast to carry the weight of audience engagement with dynamic performances and interaction. Unfortunately, no luck in that department as well, as the cast is somewhat let down by a leaden script with mawkish dialogue and a politically correct ecological agenda that is meant to distract us from the main flaw of The Rig’s – it is not scary whatsoever!
There is hardly any gore or terrifying sequences to either scare or thrill us, and the threat of the entity is less visceral and more existential than anything else. Not only that but in the end, the entire dilemma is created by the stereotypical corporate baddie – how boring! And that cliffhanger of an ending suggests a second season might be on the cards. Hmm.
Watch now on Amazon Prime.
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