Re-formed by a coded message to their web site, a group of animal rights activists set off to free an imprisoned colleague from a terrifying ordeal. Their rescue mission leads them to a disused lab, but what should have been a simple raid turns into a series of twisted and mind bending incidents where the free and the caged switch places, in this tormented psychological horror. LD 50 Lethal Dose is a 2003 Horror film that tries harder than it should and it's packed with some terrible perfomances (including Tom Hardy) and a set of twists and gore that it copy paste from other classic horror movies. Overall a horrible horror flick with horrible characters and perfomances. (0/10)

"LD 50 Lethal Dose" was a nice surprise, and actually a lot better than the trailer suggests (which, thankfully, I saw after the movie, on the "special features" menu). Scary Spice was actually pretty unrecognisable in the movie. At least, to me she was. Never really kept track of the Spice Girls, anyway. All the acting was pretty okay, even. All I can say is, if you like recent British horror, like "Dog Soldiers" (2002), "The Descent" (2005), "The Hole" (2001) and "Long Time Dead" (2002), then you'll most likely enjoy "LD 50 Lethal Dose" also. Its not on par with the first two I mentioned, but it can compete with the last two. It did take me a bit to get into it. It knows a very standard set-up (first half hour), but in the end the movie is saved by a pretty original concept (even though "LD 50" deceivingly starts as one of those 'a group of people on an isolated location are about to be killed of by some killer-something' type of movie), good cinematography (look & feel) and set design, very decent special effects and blood & gore make-up effects (well-timed, rather than a non-stop display), okay over-all acting, and a satisfying finale/conclusion. Just keep one eye closed for some implausibilities in the script and don't try to think too much during the movie, and you'll be okay. First time director Simon De Selva left a good impression on me with "LD 50".

This thriller is far from thrilling. The movie opens with animal rights types going on a sort of commando raid to free a bunch of bunnies and kitties from an animal research facility. One of them is caught by the cops and he winds up in some sort of facility for mind experiments. Apparently he volunteered. His friends decide to raid the facility, this time to free their friend because they feel guilty for leaving him in the first raid. This ad hoc team is made up of mostly morons and hotheads who exhibit absolutely no ability to cope with the situation when they find themselves trapped in the basement of the facility. One minute they're lighting up a doobie and dreaming happily amid clouds of smoke, and the next they're shouting hysterically and at each others throats. They can't reason, they can't plan; all they do is make sarcastic remarks and start fistfights with each other, and worse. The setting is minimal-- an industrial basement with a lot of colored electric cables strung around. There seems to be a supernatural force stalking them, but its nature is not explained. Mostly the movie drags as they wander stupidly through the spooky corridors muttering nonsense. The only positive thing I could find in this movie was the fact that they did not use bundles of cheap plastic tubing from the hardware store to decorate the set. One of the major problems with this is that there is no explanation given as to what's going on: we don't know what kind of experiments are being conducted, who's behind them, what were their purpose. The operators of the facility are all gone, perhaps killed or just fled. We never find out. One character, who seems to know a bit more than the rest, explains they they were creating "biometric emanations" or some such nonsense. In the end we find out who's behind some of the strange poltergeist events we've been seeing, but we are still in the dark about how the whole thing works. Very little is explained. One of the characters gets bitten by a rat and after that goes off his nut, but we don't know if it's some infection the rat gave him or if he's picking up some supernatural radio signals on the steel plate in his skull, or if he was just crazy from the beginning. Science fiction as well as tales of the supernatural have to have some basic ground rules about how the fictional or fantastic world is supposed to work. In this kind of plot we expect the big design to be revealed, maybe little by little, so that in the end everything is clear. But that's the problem--we never know. It looks like they made up the plot as they were filming. There should be some snappy dialogue and coherent action for a low budget movie like this, but the plot drags horribly, interrupted by scenes of senseless violence. Miss it.

Where to begin with this debacle? The cast were poor, not a single mediocre performance if you combined all their talents.Melanie Brown (of former spice girls fame) does her best to be annoying northerner. Her thick gormless accent ripping through any notion of script or character. Why couldn't someone have paid her to sing her lines? Trust me it would have been better than listening to her speak.The main plot is strictly B movie fare, and there is no real idea of what this movie is. Is it a horror? (if so shouldn't it be scary?) is it a thriller? (then shouldn't it be exciting or have some surprise?) Is it sci-fi? (then shouldn't there be more mention of this concept - instead of slapping it on at the end) The writer Mr De Selva should be ashamed of profiting from such a bland, pointless story. But alas there is no more shame in collecting a paycheck for which one does not deserve.