Vindication

Writer-director Bart Mastronardi brings us a "morality tale about a young man whose attempt at suicide fails causing his guilt to manifest into reality." That sums up the plot in a way far more artistic than I would have been able to state.

The film has a few flaws,and they should be known up front. There is plenty of over-acting, especially from the father character. While that works well on stage or perhaps in comedies or soap operas, it takes something away from the seriousness of this drama. The film also clearly suffers from a lack of budget, which is forgivable... though there seems to be too much reliance on hand-held and shaky-cam. They used Panasonic's DVX100B mini-DV, which unfortunately comes across more like a home movie.

The strength of the film lies in the really impressive scars and other special effects... including a cutting scene made me wince and turn my head. The acting is also decent, aside from the aforementioned over-acting at times. The story itself is also rather unique and well-presented, something we don't see enough of in these days of sequels and remakes.

I'm pleased to say friend of Killer Reviews, Raine Brown, appears (as do Joe Zaso and Alan Rowe Kelly). Brown's appearance always adds something special to a film, and if readers haven't seen her "Psycho Holocaust", they should.

Due to the flaws, I cannot give this film more than a 5/10 (or as Killer Reviews uses, 2.5/5). I do look forward to future productions from this cast and crew, but I cannot see this as much more than a learning experience. It is sad, but understandable, that the film took four years to find distribution.