The Conspiracy
DVD
Directed by Christopher MacBride
Written by Christopher MacBride
Starring Aaron Poole, James Gilbert, Ian Anderson
NR
84 mins
2013
Conspiracy theories are a strange and sometimes wonderful world, crammed full of strangeness and the absolutely inconceivable. It is a world where the most bizarre can take place, and the most seemingly likely may fall flat. But for "The Conspiracy", it's going to be a much more deadly world than anyone expects as the conspiracy hits a little too close to home.
"The Conspiracy" joins a set of documentary filmmakers who set out to document conspiracy theories and get more information about these sometimes poorly-understood phenomena. But after said documentarians come in contact with one man--Terrence G. by almost-name--who may know more about what's going on than anyone ever realized, the bottom of the whole mess starts to come into view. But when that man goes missing suddenly, the filmmakers discover that the issues in question may go even deeper, and may well end with our filmmakers on the bad side of disappearance.
Indeed, Terrence G.'s strange world is surprisingly believable; there are actual people out there like this that follow the news with a fine-toothed comb and attempt to draw parallels and syllogisms among and between the events that take place. Normally these people are handwaved away with a smile and a nod, or maybe a mutter of "Oh, he's one of THOSE," but the inevitable question that must follow, even for those willing to be so rude as to twirl finger alongside head is, what if he's right?
For those with a passing interest in conspiracy theory, this will be a good primer on the basics of conspiracy theory. All the biggies are here: the Bilderberger group, the Illuminati, the Council on Foreign Relations, so on and so forth, and plenty of the stuff you'd find in a good deck of Steve Jackson's "Illuminati: New World Order" cards. But even as all these names intermingle into the whole, it takes on a new, sinister aspect to it that's hard to deny. It's downright staggering in its way, and watching it is like watching a storm build in the western sky that may well bring with it ultimate disaster. That's scary, in its way, and that makes this one particularly so. It builds well, it paces itself nicely, and it's easy to note that 20 minutes or more at a clip have gone by, and the film has built nicely on its earlier advance.
The ending is a little on the bizarre side, yet considering the events that preceded it, it's almost the only ending that could have been had. Saying much more about it would spoil it, so rest assured, this might well be all that could have been done.
Special features include audio options and trailers for "Banshee Chapter," "Armistice," "Outpost III: Rise of the Spetsnaz," "Holy Ghost People," and "The Conspiracy."
"The Conspiracy" is a strange, sinister entry that, although it doesn't up very much into overt scares, will instead do a good job building up its foreboding in a fashion that makes the ending somewhat inevitable, if a little weird. Regardless of your stance on conspiracy, however, this should still prove an entertaining, if somewhat disturbing, romp.