The Void is a 2016 Canadian Lovecraftian horror film written and directed by Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie, and produced by Jonathan Bronfman and Casey Walker.

It stars Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, Daniel Fathers, Kathleen Munroe, and Ellen Wong.

The plot follows a small group of people who become trapped in a hospital by a gathering of hooded cultists, and by grotesque creatures.

The creature effects were crowdfunded on Indiegogo and raised $82,510, while the film's funding was done through traditional channels by the production company.

Deputy Sheriff Daniel Carter is on duty, sitting in his patrol car when he finds James crawling along the road and rushes him to the local hospital, which has been largely abandoned following a fire, where his estranged wife Allison Fraser works as a nurse.

Vincent and Simon accompany Daniel to retrieve a shotgun from a patrol car, while Allison ventures into the basement to collect medical supplies for delivering Maggie's baby.

Allison regains consciousness on an operating table where Powell explains he has found a way to defy death after the loss of his daughter Sarah.

Daniel, Vincent, Simon, and James find a hidden area in the basement and end up surrounded by deformed corpses brought back to life.

Powell's voice tells Daniel that he found the ability to conquer life and death through a ritual that enabled him to contact entities older than time itself.

Daniel and Allison are shown holding hands in another world beneath a black pyramid while Powell's fate is left unknown.

"[5] Gillespie and Kostanski managed to crowdfund the money they needed to build the practical creatures that appear onscreen effects.

The site's critical consensus reads, "The Void offers a nostalgic rush for fans of low-budget 1980s horror — and legitimate thrills for hardcore genre enthusiasts of all ages.

[15] Writing in Fangoria, Elijah Taylor gave the film a positive review, specifically praising that "practical effects are not obscured, not glimpsed partially through a flashing light or a shaky handicam.

They're showcased front and center, with the confidence of a team that knows their monsters have more weight and impact than the myriad CGI scares that have become the standard in modern horror."

"[16] Kim Newman of Screen Daily compared the film to previous works Bio-Cop from ABCs of Death 2 and Manborg, stating that the directors "remain in pastiche mode, but tone down the humour to try for serious suspense and Lovecraftian horror - with a pleasing reliance on memorably gruesome physical effects rather than CGI."

Newman concluded that the film "offers good shock/uck moments and a nicely unpredictable plot, even if a few crucial relationships are sketchily established, slightly undermining audience investment in the horrors.

"[1] Chris Hewett of Empire gave the film 3 stars out of 5, stating that the "central story hinges on a series of outlandish coincidences, too many of the cast of characters struggle to make an impact, and the pacing is a tad too ponderous to really grip.

"[17] The review found that as the film became more close to a creature feature, "the directors' love of old-school, honest-to-goodness, practical FX is a huge boon" and the directors are "worth keeping an eye on", as they "know their way around an arresting image, whether it’s a group of masked figures eerily lit by the cold, flashing light of a cop car, or a killer nonchalantly sliding a scalpel into someone’s eye".

Calling the plot "wafer-thin", and the style "patchy and flimsy", and "a work by a group of young, unformed voices.