An interesting addition to the tech-thriller subgenre.
Synopsis: After a botched robbery, two men take refuge in a remote and lifeless scientific facility, inadvertently awakening a monster within.
The threat of technology surpassing the intelligence and capability of their human inventors is a concept that has always found a footing in horror and sci-fi. These narratives often come with big casts, big locations and big budgets to sell the idea of an all-encompassing, increasingly dangerous result of human experimentation. Project Dorothy tries to emulate the concept with limited means to varying success.
Effectively using a music video, complete with apocalypse-themed song, Project Dorothy starts by showing the dramatic events of a warehouse full of scientists meeting their demise via the overpowering AI at the heart of their research. From those scenes of panic, we are brought (via a vague ‘many years later’ caption) to two men on the run. James (Tim DeZarn) and Blake (Adam Budron) are fleeing a botched robbery and as James’ injury worsens they are forced to take refuge in the abandoned warehouse.
It is clear that Project Dorothy does not have the budget of bigger productions but what it does with the resources it has is to be celebrated. Mostly using the geography of the abandoned warehouse, this is a single-location thriller with the ability to split up characters effectively and explore different areas of the building. In doing so, it can add some tension to what is otherwise a slow-moving film.
There are also interesting visual queues, with a cut from the uniformity of warehouse structures to the more fluid uniformity of a cornfield. Whereas the threat may come from nature and the outside world, Project Dorothy works to establish technology as the ultimate threat. Evil Dead-style fast-paced tracking shots break up the otherwise dialogue-heavy scenes although this technique is overused to add motion among the static. A late sequence manages to be genuinely unsettling and hints at an ability to achieve that elsewhere.
Even at only one hour and twenty minutes, this feels overly long, relying on too much time without any forward momentum and repetition of successfully jolting sequences. The space of the warehouse is well-utilised and the performances are solid – it’s just a shame the pacing struggles to make the most of these elements.
Project Dorothy is interesting in terms of a science-fiction thriller cleverly using resources, but it lacks enough dynamic energy to stay engaging.
2.5 out of 5 stars
Project Dorothy is available on VOD now.
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