Netflix have earned a reputation for having some of the best television around, and their documentary and original film slates are stepping it up too. But let’s face it, the streaming service is still bulked out by content they license from elsewhere, and some of the dustier corners of Netflix contain some real questionable titles. And “Spectral” is about to join them.
If this is the first time you’re hearing about the movie, don’t worry, because Legendary Pictures and Universal, who were originally slated to release it, have been doing a pretty good job of pretending it doesn’t exist. Previously planned to be released this summer on August 12th (although no trailer or poster was ever prepared), it was quietly taken off the schedule, and now Netflix has scooped it up and will drop it on their service in three weeks.
Directed by Nic Mathieu and starring James Badge Dale, Max Martini, Emily Mortimer and Bruce Greenwood, the film had been described as a supernatural “Black Hawk Down,” with the story following a DARPA scientist and a Delta Special Ops team tasked with taking down killer ghosts in a war-torn city (basically). So, like a more extreme “Ghostbusters,” I guess. It’s a premise with potential, certainly, but somewhere along the way things clearly didn’t pan out, because this throwaway release doesn’t bode well on the film’s quality. (Side note: It was also going to hit theaters in 3D).
But glass half full, maybe this is simply a movie that Universal didn’t see as commercially viable (presumably, violent sci-fi featuring no A-lists stars is a hard sell) and they just decided to pass it along. However, glass half empty is that this is not the movie Universal expected, and they want it out of their hands. “Spectral” hits Netflix on December 9th. [Deadline]