Watch The Source For Free

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

good back-story, and good acting

Absolutely Brilliant!

Blistering performances.

There are worse movies out there than The Secret Craft/The Surge. The film did at least have a decent if not entirely original premise going for it, and Alice Frank and Edward DeRuitter are not bad in their roles. I'll also say and agree that the teens are sexy. Unfortunately that is all I can say really in The Secret Craft's defence. The low budget technically really shows, with camera work that makes you feel that you're on the world's rockiest see-saw, flash editing that gets nauseating very quickly and low lighting that tries to be atmospheric but ends up being obvious. The music is all loud and monotonous with no subtlety or atmosphere, while the direction is hopelessly misguided, never taking full grasp of the story and doing nothing to serve the actors. The dialogue feels awkward and has so much cheese that it makes you wince, while the story is generic and predictable with the origins of the powers both very underdeveloped and confusingly handled. The characters, forgiving for a second that they are stereotypes, are annoying and cartoony with the villains particularly unbelievable. The acting on the most part is amateurish, Melissa Renee Martin faring worst, being entirely too feeble for an incarnation of evil sort of character, she acts cruel but that's all there is. Matthew Scollon is bland as his heroic character. So overall, has a decent idea but has little else to recommend otherwise. 3/10 Bethany Cox

That's a lie. It wasn't shockingly bad. I wasn't surprised at all at how bad this was.Actually, the only reason I saw this film was because they filmed it at my high school in the small town of Simi Valley. I remember when they filmed it ( I believe I was a sophomore or a freshmen at the time)i was an extra in the background with a gripfull of other students.After a lot of time, I finally saw it... and with no hope for it at all. But MAN! Holy freakin' god! This movie is painful to watch.Maybe its because they filmed all over my hometown and tried to make it look like a random beach city.... but its not. Its Simi Valley... VALLEY, about an hour away from any beach.The acting was lame, which I expected, the special effects I didn't even want to consider. The editing/sound editing was pathetic beyond belief and when I saw that there was a screenwriter....well, that was a joke all on its own. It makes me wonder, did this movie cost really anything at all? Probably not much. Don't waste your time. Go enjoy your time and watch yourself in the mirror for an hour and a half. There's probably better surprises there anyway.

The Source begins as troubled teen goth Reese Hauser (Mathew Scollon) & his Father Jerry (Johnny Venocur) look to start a new life in a non discript American town somewhere. Things get off to a bad start as Reese quickly finds himself & his goth lifestyle being ridiculed by just about everyone else, add this to the fact that his Father is the new history teacher, the school principal McKinley (Ronald Rezac) is a bit of a bully himself & things are not going well. However Reese is befriended by fellow losers, goth's & nerds Zack Bainbridge (Edward DeRuiter), his sister Ashley (Melissa Renee Martin) & their friend Phoebe Lewis (Alice Frank). While out exploring some lithium deposits in some local woods the four discover a magical rock which concentrates all the lithium's power into one stream which, when stepped in, enhances ones psychical attributes as well as unlocking secret dormant powers, Zack calls it 'scionics'. Zack gains the power of telepathy, Ashley has the power to control others & phoebe has the power of telekinesis while Reese has the power of psychical regeneration & healing. At first they use their new found powers to gain a humiliating but ultimately harmless revenge on their tormentors, that is until one of the group decides use their powers for rather more sinister reasons...Edited, co-written & directed by Steve Taylor I was quite surprised at how much I didn't hate The Source, I think that's a better way of putting it than how I much I liked it as I don't really want to give the impression that The Source is any sort of masterpiece. The script by Taylor & Roger Kristian Jones moves along at a fair pace & to be brutally honest rips-off The Craft (1996), or should that be borrows some of it's ideas & themes? I unexpectedly quite liked the character's in The Source, they all have just enough personality to be likable which was essential if The Source is to work as a film & engage the viewer while a special mention goes to the the girls in The Source who are seriously hot which doesn't hurt. Generally it's pretty lightweight stuff, it doesn't even try to say meaningful things about serious issues like bullying, depression, conflicts with parents, theft & friendship that The Source brings up. Instead it skates around them a little which is fine as the acting & writing involved isn't really up to high drama, but we do get lots of special powers being put to good or bad use & where on Earth did the idea of a magical rock come from? The Source also went into a direction that I didn't expect & a nice climax.Director Taylor turns The Source into a feature length music video. He tries everything, editing tricks, shots where the camera tilt's back & forth for no apparent reason, hand held jerky shots, slow motion, reduced frame rate, the image turned upside down & various other gimmicky techniques. One more thing I have to point out is that The Source is probably the brightest film I have watched, from the garish clothes to the outside scenes where the grass looks so bright it would glow in the dark & for some reason there are flashes of light shooting around the screen all the time almost as if someone was shining a torch on random objects in the scene, very strange & I'm not sure what it's all about. The Source lacks any real violence or gore, a cut arm & a few splashes of blood is about it while there isn't any nudity either.On a technical level The Source isn't too bad considering that the budget must have been small to say the least. It was obviously shot on video rather than film which might explain why it looks so bright, unfortunately when something is shot on video it has that cheap 'n' nasty look & feel to it. The music sounds like it has come straight from a techno rave CD while generally speaking it's quite well made. Apart, that is, from one or two poor CGI special effects particularly at the end. The acting is decent enough & I think I'm in love with Melissa Renee Martin...I wasn't expecting to but I actually rather liked The Source, it's nothing to heavy, it's good fun & provides 100 odd minutes worth of entertainment. Don't get me wrong it isn't brilliant but I personally think it's well worth a watch.

As much as the budget for special effects and "big" actors detracts from the movie, many other aspects add to it. To begin with, the portrayal of the stereotypes of the school system is excellent, written to a "T". I swear, I've had that math teacher, or at least someone just like her. And the students are perfectly played out. While some of the acting and dubbing needed work, and some of the special effects were glitchy, the movie, on a whole expresses two themes that are so true it hurts: Power Corrupts -and- Life is Hard. There's no doubt in my mind that if this movie had a bigger budget, it would have been a box-office smash. Another thing: I've noticed many a comment about the funky camera angles and neon colors. The colors are because of a technique called "Bubblegum" which is when all bright and contrasting colors are used to offset characters and settings. The camera angles and lighting effects are meant to make everything look chaotic, which is often the way teenagers see high school. The plot line is predictable. But there are rather humorous lines and some very interesting situations. Take it for what it is, not what you want it to be.