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Masterful Movie

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This film I watched recently at the Zed Fest Film Festival in Hollywood, CA. I had heard about the film when Daisy Ridley was first cast in Star Wars, so had been waiting to see this for a while.Was it what I was expecting? No… Was it any good, well, I haven't stopped thinking about it since so it certainly hit a nerve somewhere, so yes, It was one of those films that sticks with you and gets under your skin, and deserves multiple viewings to fully understand. The director has said that Phantasm was a big influence, as was the editing style of Nicolas Roeg, and I can see both of those bubbling under the surface.Is Daisy Ridley the best thing in it? Only if you go into a film thinking that because it has a 'name' in it that it makes that the best thing about it. She's great but so are other cast members, it truly is an ensemble piece, not a 'star' vehicle. The best thing about it in my opinion is the music by newcomer Dan Hall. The music is accomplished and haunting and I want to hear more from this guy.The film is a bit unwieldy at times, and is complex so takes a bit of concentration but has enough in it to recommend a viewing to see what can be achieved on minimal resources.There are moments in the film where you do question why certain characters do certain things, but then if you think about comic book characters coming to life and killing people, you'd understand why they don't go to the authorities. They would all be locked up in a psych ward.Which thinking about the plot now, might explain where some of the characters are… The cast, and there are a bunch of them, range from OK to pretty good. There are no Oscar winners here, but that's not what the film is. It is a wild, unashamed B movie. I hope to see more from this director and the entire crew in years to come.

I saw this at the Nevermore Film Festival in Durham, NC last weekend. Although I've seen plenty of low-budget movies, and like them if they have a point or consistent plot, this was a horrible disappointment. I did arrive about 5-10 minutes after it started, so perhaps I missed some important establishing shots, but I'm not sure it would have helped. It was a confusing mess, with random, pointless flash-forwards and -backwards.First, there were WAY too many characters (maybe 30?), with subsequently very little character development. Most of them suffered from "stupid people" syndrome, and were frustratingly inactive and inept. What's worse, none of them were good actors, with the exception of Daisy Ridley. She seemed to have dropped in from another film.The cast is roughly split between a bunch of teenagers and their parents. Occasionally the action stops, and we're treated with a scene of an adult and teenager sitting in a café, or a grocery, and having some pointless time-wasting conversation about life. None of the actors make much of an impact, especially the ostensible star of the film - the writer of the comic book. He is incapable of showing any real emotions other than a confused aloofness.The film lost me when he sees a friend murdered on the beach, and does almost nothing about it. He runs to tell his Mom, but she interrupts him, saying she's too busy to listen right now. Why doesn't he tell anyone else? Or perhaps go to the police? And does no one else on the beach see the body? This plot-line is forgotten within 2 minutes.Even the comic book angle of the film was wasted. The comic itself is glanced in short shaky takes, but is quickly glossed over. The ending is nothing special, and doesn't provide decent closure, either. Save your time and skip this one.