One of them is the horror film "LD50 Lethal Dose" (2003), which became the lowest-rated film in his filmography but can still send chills down your spine.
What the film's about
A group of animal rights activists receives a distress signal from their friend who's become the victim of a secret experiment. Deciding to pull him out of an underground laboratory, the crew encounters not security guards and people in lab coats, but unsettling silence and... something invisible that clearly doesn't plan on letting them leave alive.
Source:
imdb.com
Critics and audience reaction
On Rotten Tomatoes, "LD50" has just 28% from audiences, and on IMDb — 3.9 out of 10, making it the lowest-rated film in Hardy's career.People in reviews on IMDb wrote that the plot was too generic, the special effects were cheap, and logic was often absent. One reviewer sarcastically noted that "it's a mishmash of old horror tricks glued together in a different order."
But the film found its defenders too. Some viewers noted that despite the modest budget, the movie creates a genuinely creepy atmosphere, and the underground scenes trigger claustrophobia. Someone even called it "the British answer to 28 Days Later — maybe without the scope, but with the right tension."
Why it's worth remembering
Sure, "LD50" is far from a cinematic masterpiece and definitely not the main role in Hardy's career. But it's exactly these forgotten horrors that show where the future Hollywood titan got his start.And if you want to see Hardy not in his familiar guise as a charismatic villain or brutal hero, but in a chamber horror with a dark atmosphere — this film is worth pulling from oblivion.
"LD50" is a rare case where even an actor's lowest-rated project can turn out to be scarier and more interesting than many expensive studio horror flicks. Earlier we at zoomboola.com told you about the film "Star": Guy Ritchie's forgotten short about a very, very demanding singer Madonna.
