The Nothing (2018) Review – A Pointless Exercise in Ego and Boredom
The Nothing: Quick Verdict
The Verdict: A turgid and aggressively uninspired exercise in cinematic vanity that fails to deliver even the most basic genre thrills. The Nothing (2018) succeeds only in its titular promise, offering absolutely nothing of value to the survival-horror sub-genre. Clayton Thompson’s multi-hyphenate approach results in a narrative that is both technically inept and psychologically shallow, anchored by a protagonist so profoundly unlikable that any attempt at tension is immediately neutralised by the viewer’s desire to see him fail. The nauseating cinematography and amateurish “pseudo-intellectual” dialogue make for a taxing and frequently laughable experience. Katie Adkins provides the film’s only glimmer of competence. This 1 star effort is a staggering example of a creator spreading themselves too thin, resulting in a project that feels more like a home movie than a professional production. It is a boring, technical catastrophe. It is a waste of time.
Details: Director: Clayton Thompson | Cast: Clayton Thompson, Katie Adkins, Makaila Adkins | Runtime: 1h 14m | Release Date: 2018
Best for: Family members of Clayton Thompson or students of cinema looking for a definitive example of how not to write a lead character.
Worth noting: Clayton Thompson served as the film’s director, writer, lead actor, and editor – a workload that is reflected in the film’s lack of objective quality control.
Where to Watch: VOD, Amazon🛒
Rating: 1/5 Stars
(A masterfully boring and technically abysmal survival horror that prioritises the lead creator’s ego over narrative coherence, tension, or basic entertainment value.)
Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are reviewing low-budget survival horror The Nothing (2018).
Table of Contents
I don’t want to be mean but…
The Nothing is a story about a man who is desperate to create and believes the best way to do that is to get in touch with himself. The best art is created in the darkest hours of an artist’s life Clayton Thompson repeatedly reminds us. This drives him to ask his girlfriend to drop him off in the middle of the Georgia mountains with limited supplies and no means of communication. He plans to stay there for six days and document the process of writing his first story. He’s about to get much more than he bargained for.
“The Nothing is your quintessential example of a horror writer feeling like they have created a new idea because they smushed two pre-existing ones together. It fails on pretty much every level.”
This is a horror topic we have covered a lot on this website and one I enjoy. Survival out in the woods is great but it needs to be handled with a certain panache. Otherwise it’s just an unlikable person wasting your time as they do mundane things in the middle of nowhere… Enter The Nothing.
For the most part, this is a pretty typical psychological horror. It’s your standard “is it all in their head” theme only with a healthy dose of the fascinating reality series Alone. Well, that is if the events of Alone were compressed into five days rather than the months that contestants tend to spend in the wild. The Nothing is your quintessential example of a horror writer feeling like they have created a new idea because they smushed two pre-existing ones together.
The first enormous problem
The first problem is obvious and it’s going to be a persistent issue throughout the film. This dude is horribly unlikable and we are forced to spend the entire movie with him. That’s a fate worse than the one Clayton himself suffers here.
The majority of the opening stanza of The Nothing focuses on Clayton documenting his plans. Clayton spends time interviewing his girlfriend and his best friend. He talks to the camera about his thoughts and intentions. He acts narcissistic and generally comes across as a completely unbearable human being. Honestly, this guy is aggressive, immature, and entirely unfunny.
I am not sure whether Clayton being unlikable was the intention. Perhaps it was intended to lead up to some grandiose moment of redemption but that never happens. That assumption is very on the contrary to how highly his girlfriend and friend speak of him, as well.
His girlfriend, Makaila (Katie Adkins), tells him how much she loves him only moments after he has shouted at her in a way that would worry the majority of observers. Suffice to say, Clayton is a bit of a twat who is difficult to care about and has poorly outlined motivations.
Hands up, maybe I am being unfair. Clayton is definitely trying to spread his wings here and cover all aspects of the movie making experience and I appreciate that. I do the same when it comes to web design and writing. The problem with Clayton Thompson however, is that he has no desire to excel or even to have some level of competence at said tasks.
Fails on pretty much every level
Directing is, perhaps, the strongest point of his four jobs. The film progresses in a decent manner and it looks okay. That’s about the limitations of what I can praise, though. Everything else is rough. Writing is sloppy and confused. You are left questioning Clayton’s motivation for entering the woods as well as questioning the other characters’ views of him. The pseudo intellectual drivel spat out by Clayton in certain scenes is laughable, too. He sounds like a “fresh out of high school” emo kid.
Clayton’s acting is on a similar level to his writing. Attempts to channel a leading man charm fall incredibly flat. Scenes of obvious improvisation demonstrate a lack of self awareness as well as a lack of charisma. There is nothing wrong with having a well developed script if you are not a natural performer. Clayton would have benefited from having awareness of that fact. He’s not funny, either. This is in spite of his insistence on numerous attempts at charming “humour”.
“The pseudo-intellectual drivel spat out by Clayton in certain scenes is laughable. He acts narcissistic and generally comes across as a completely unbearable human being.”
Scenes featuring Clayton exhibiting emotion seem out of character because he comes across as such a tosser. The way he reacts to the noises in the woods would be considered “a bit much” for a 5 year old. There’s no room for the viewer to get scared because Clayton’s doing it all for you. Not that the scares are effective in the slightest, they are awful. It makes for some unintentional laughs, though. In one amusing scene Clayton frantically climbs a tree, screaming in fear due to something that he heard in the distance. Again, it’s a highlight but it doesn’t seem intentional.
A creator spreading himself too thin
The Nothing could have been massively improved just by hiring an experienced writer and by Thompson placing himself as a side character rather than the lead. I think spending some time directing movies while playing side characters could really help Clayton develop into a decent actor. Still, this is a guy who named the lead character after himself. It is hard to imagine Clayton Thompson giving up the opportunity to hog an undeserved spotlight for the length of a feature film.
His insistence on spreading himself so thin means every facet of the movie suffers. There are no scares, nothing interesting worthy of note takes place, and no big revelations occur. The ending feels abrupt despite the frantic pacing and you are left feeling unsatisfied. Cinematography is nauseatingly terrible. We also have some, I am assuming, green screen stuff that looks awful. The frequent use of a wide shot has you fixated on the background despite the total absence of a reason to even bother looking. It is better than staring at Clayton doing sod all, though.
“Unless you are family or friends of Clayton, you shouldn’t watch The Nothing. It has the overwhelming unwashed stench of cheap, ultra-low-budget crap.”
On the plus side, Katie Adkins, as Makaila, does a nice job. She conveyed a warmth towards Clayton that must have taken some serious acting chops to pull off. You know, what with how much of an asshat he appears to be. I really wish the roles were flipped and she was the one in the woods. I think she could have pulled it off fantastically. Bonus – it would have saved us from spending so much time with Clayton.
Want to know an interesting fact? Only 300ish people have rated this movie on IMDb and 88 of them gave it a 1/10… Ouch! I’m not trying to be mean but I have to call them how I see them. This is an ego trip and nothing more.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The Good
- Katie Adkins: Manages to bring a sense of warmth and professional acting to a role that required her to be affectionate toward an unbearable lead.
- Natural Scenery: The Georgia mountain location is objectively nice to look at, providing the film with its only shred of aesthetic appeal.
- Abrupt Ending: The film is mercifully short, and when it finally ends, the relief is the only genuine emotion the viewer is likely to feel.
The Bad
- Unbearable Lead: The character of Clayton is so aggressive, narcissistic, and immature that it is impossible to care about his survival.
- Amateur Writing: The script is filled with “emo” pseudo-intellectual drivel that makes the character sound like a pretentious teenager.
- Technical Failures: Nauseating camera work and terrible green-screen effects consistently break whatever tiny amount of immersion the film manages to build.
The Ugly: The Tree Climb. A sequence intended to be terrifying that instead serves as the film’s funniest moment due to the lead’s wildly over-the-top reaction.
Should You Watch The Nothing?
No. It is a 1 star film that fails to justify its own existence. Unless you are using it as a case study for why directors should rarely cast themselves as the lead in their own writing, there is no reason to sit through this. It is a turgid, boring, and technically incompetent ego trip that offers zero scares and zero interest. There are hundreds of low-budget survival horrors out there; literally any of them would be a better use of your time than this. It is truly “The Nothing.”
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