Sometimes, a story concept can sound great in theory, but be difficult to execute in order to get the desired point across to the audience. The Apocalypse Box , written and directed by James Eaves, falls into this category as it tries hard to be part political commentary, and part supernatural horror, but ultimately ends up feeling muddled and plodding.

On the eve of Britain’s general election, right-wing politician Piers Stonesmith (Tom Butcher) is behind in the polls, but determined to pull off a last minute win. His solution is to gather a group of voters together under false pretenses, but locks them all together in a room with a mysterious box. 

This group consists of Piers’ wife, Helena (Corrinne Wicks), his PR rep Ella (Lola Knight), and a hodgepodge of individuals deemed as a “focus group”, including Cyrill (Russell Biles), Jake (Ray Calleja), and Khara (Aryana Neo). They’re all told that this ominous box includes keys that, if used, will unlock the potential for the user’s greatest desires. While this all sounds interesting in a Hellraiser type of way, it’s not fully explained why, or how, this all ties into the impending election, or what Stonesmith’s exact involvement in the box is. 

Naturally, there are consequences to unlocking the box. While this is unfolding, we are given clips of a newscaster (Sylvester McCoy) who is relaying in real time what is occurring inside the room. This feels like it could add a deeper layer to the story as a whole, but instead comes off as an odd and jarring choice.

The main weakness of The Apocalypse Box is a script that doesn’t quite know what type of story it wants to tell. While mixing politics and horror is an obvious endeavor given the climate of the current times, it brushes past many points from both genres that could have tied it together better.

Though Piers is portrayed as clearly on the right in the beginning of the film, it isn’t explored much beyond that, even though there are hints of him being a polarizing figure. On the flip side, there’s a great deal of gloomy, sinister nature set up about the box, but the point of why it’s really there only partially comes together.

The strength of this film comes from the performances of the cast. There’s not a single weak link, and they all bring an assortment of diversity and entertainment to an otherwise dragging storyline. 

There’s a lot of potential for where the plot could go, but it is unfortunately bogged down in the middle by the confusing directions it takes in an attempt to tell a cohesive story. It would likely work better if there was less focus either way -whether that be more on the box and its powers, or on the politician and who he really is as a person. Instead, we are given a strangely paced film that gets compelling far too late into the runtime to make it memorable.