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geckopowerman
Reviews
Starcache (2018)
Good try on a low budget, falls short.
Very low budget, it plays out like a extended Taggart TV show. I personally would of expected more in production value, but i have to take my hats off to the actors, they generally did well, the kids more so, and the editing, while not what i was expecting, i can appreciate the difficulties faced there.
Post production should of been much more improved though, basic grading to match scenes, basic digital stabilisation for shaky shots and a overall grade to accentuate scenes, more of a score would of helped for a feature film, the score sounded more akin to a Taggart TV show. Would of certainly preferred the more horror aspect with the humour, but overall, it was always going to be a hard balance to achieve, so i give it 3 out of 5. If geocaching is your thing, then by all means check it out, or indeed if you enjoy low budget horror/humour, then its worth a watch, enjoy ;)
Dense Fear Bloodline (2012)
Well worth a watch!
Thoroughly enjoyed this film. A summer blockbuster it is not, but if you enjoy watching new talent emerge with extremely low budgets, then i certainly recommend you watch it.
The budget is the crippling point of this werewolf film, yet i still enjoyed it, i found the pacing to be good, the director has a good eye of what needs to be captured and draws us into this world. The practical effects are exceptional and worthy of note! A full visual transformation is included! The acting was practical and did the job, not Oscar worthy, but i believe they are amateurs, so in that context, they held up very well.
It does have comparisons to Dog Soldiers, which is rather unfortunate, but alas, if you are going to have soldiers in a wooded area with werewolves, then it will be instantly compared to Dog Soldiers. I still feel it has its own story and works on its own merits, the comparison is harsh.
The mixture of action/drama/horror/emotion is well crafted. I will certainly be keeping an eye out for future projects from this team.
I understand they spent 5 years putting it together, you can tell it was a work of love and dedication.
Frankly, it is the best (zero budget) werewolf film i have seen to date...It does have its flaws, but with such a budget, a certain amount of criticism has to be forgiven...If you enjoy werewolf films, especially if you enjoy watching new talent, then i think you will be pleasantly surprised. Don't let the budget put you off, sit back, turn up the volume ,dim the lights and enjoy the show! You wont regret it!
The Sickhouse (2008)
Damn good attempt, maybe not worthy of a feature length, but a good attempt...
Why an 8 rating? The film is far from perfect, the story was interesting, not fully realised. Acting was great (in my opinion) overall. Effects were very good. Quick summary, i am interested in the future of the cast and crew, they didn't quite nail it in this film, but they got close, very close! So why a rating of 8? The premise of the story was great, it did get a bit lost as we progress through the film, great potential, very good try overall.
Acting was superb, each and every character was well portrayed, thumbs up to the actors and i presume the director, for getting the performances he required.
Effects were good, maybe too much of it though, there was a lot of camera movement in a lot of scenes, so i did not see the need for a lot of the special effects.
Camera, read above, a wee bit too much movement of the camera for my liking, it was almost like they were trying to portray it as an art film (where visuals give you a meaning(or many meanings), as opposed to straight dialogue with visuals). Still, interesting visuals, but a wee bit over the top for my liking.
Editing. Hmmm, tricky one! I liked it, but not in the sense of watching the film, very interesting ideas in the editing, but once again, it seems as if the Editor/Director wanted to convey chaos, way too much? There was way too many cuts/shots jumping around really. Great for a shorter film, i guess, but a feature length, probably not. Apart from dealing with lots of camera movements, then the editing was probably not bad overall, but yet very artistic editing.
Direction. Overall a good job, the actors played their roles very well, even in moments where the story seems to have fallen down (it does happen, sadly, near the end). Good work overall! Budget!!! IMDb states it was approx $2 million dollars to make this film! If that is the case, then i would drop the rating to a 5 at best. I honestly do not understand why it can cost that amount of money to make, what i view, as a low budget film, and a very good one at that! So in Summary, good acting, promising story, not really gory, not really scary, but the story and the characters kept me involved to watch the film, even to the extent of writing this review (so it did many things right!). Maybe the story did not warrant a full feature, maybe 1 hour running time or even a 30 min short would of being a wiser choice, it was a brave decision to make this into a feature length, and they nearly nailed it.
I look forward to other work from the cast and crew, and maybe, just one day, they will hit the nail on the head, and create the next big summer blockbuster! We all hope...
P.S. To the Director, i look forward to your comments on my little Werewolf short i am creating, its gonna be poor, but its a zero budget affair and will be on Youtube! We all start somewhere, right!? :)
The Dark Lurking (2009)
Well done budget film, but it has its flaws, but watch it if your into making films!
First of all, my rating is based on low budget movie-making, there is better out there, but this does quite a good job.
The story is interesting, yes it does rip off other ideas, it also emulates those other ideas quite well, considering the budget! Sets and lighting are good (maybe a bit dark in a lot of places, but it is a dark sci-fi, the title of the film should hint at that, which it does!).
Acting is variable, some good moments, and naturally some bad moments, some characters are a bit odd, and their acting is consistently annoying (bad script for those characters or storyline?).
The effects are good for a low budget, plenty of sci-fi gore. Sound design is good, but not consistent, that is my major gripe with this film.
Overall, all i can say, is i enjoyed it, it might not be for general media consumption, but if you have any interest in making films, or even curious as to how films are put together, then this is a good benchmark to view. It far exceeds many other low budget films, but yet does not set a new standard.
A lot of the acting is contrived (fair to say, probably related to direction or script), but the older female scientist did a wonderful job, i have to say, very believable.
I will be interested in seeing future productions!