The Story:

The film begins with SPC Jeff Keller (Shane West) seated at a table delivering a field report to an officer concerning the number of causalities that resulted from the last mission. Now that the background to the story has been set, we are taken back that two weeks to a group of soldiers packed in the back of a transport vehicle. The group is part of a 4 team convoy that soon loses one team to an explosive of some sort destroying a truck, and killing it’s passengers. After returning to a safe area the soldiers sit, and relax trying to stay positive considering the events that just happened. While walking off the stress PFC Chard Davies, comes across an old statue in the side of a tomb. Blowing off some steam, Davies fires a single round into the head of the statue causing it to fall to rubble. After inspecting a deserted camp the soldiers find a man trapped buried chest deep in the sand. The translator informs the group that being buried, and stoned to death is a common local punishment, so pushing the image out of they’re minds they decide to press on. The team is then re-situated to another mission guarding a vacant road near an abandoned stone house where an intense sand storm soon forces them to take shelter. One of the men guarding the door sees a woman, possibly an enemy running through the intense winds, as she gets closer it’s obvious she is one of the locals, and likely harmless. The woman fights through the cover making her way inside the shelter. As the night continues the group although mostly comfortable with their new company strategizes they’re next move in case she wasn’t alone.

Effects/Gore:

The sand is red! We see apparitions of passed on soldiers sporting some massive gaping wounds. The creature effects were acceptable, and were wisely used for a more subtle, and eerie effect. It is unfortunate though that by the end they let the cat entirely out of the bag, rather than keeping it breathing down it’s victims neck like it had effectively been doing so well.

Final Headcount:

After my last ‘Military Month’ pick, I was dreading another barely average genre cross. With ‘Red Sands’ however I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of on-screen chemistry, the story, and subtle nature of the beast as a whole. With an ending that unnecessarily cheapens the experience, and deleted scenes that would have been better left in the feature, ‘Red Sands’ while not perfect is one of the better horror/war cross genre efforts I’ve seen.