Brightwood

I won't pretend to be smart enough to figure out all the time loop stuff, but this was a fun ride and I was satisfied with the ending. You're left with questions, but there's a strong message that leaves an impact that mattered more than all the details. I was so surprised by how great this was (especially for free on Tubi) that I'm genuinely shocked at how low it is scored here. I see some valid complaints among other reviewers, but this is objectively not a bad movie. Heck I'd probably watch it again! And I would absolutely recommend it, especially if you're into horror. This movie proves that you don't need a big budget to tell an interesting story.

I watched this movie based off of what I read about it on the Internet very briefly and decided to give it a shot. Let's be honest. The quality of film-making here is terrible. It looks like it was shot out of someone's phone or home movie camera. The acting is atrocious as the guy underacts while the girl overacts all film long. They're annoying and not believable. But hidden in all this garbage, there is actually a gem of a very good idea. The concept and ending made me bump up the movie a few points in my rating. I can easily see this one being remade by a director with better vision and a bigger budget. Done correctly, that would be s movie to watch.

It started with a lot of promise and seemed to be building into something really interesting.

There was a lot of potential here to create a great story and taken it to a decent conclusion but the writer just went off with the fairies.

We are taught, at school, that a story needs a beginning, a middle and and end. This had the first two but careened off the rails into a massive train wreck.

It just made no sense, at all, and I cannot understand anyone giving it a 10. Perhaps they were watching a different movie, with a different ending or, sorry, simply any ending would have done.

This is just pulp and could not recommend it even if you were desperate for anything.

Let's start by addressing the acting: horrible.

The dialogue: Forced, stilted, unrealistic, dumb and cookie cutter. Literally no one talks like that couple in the real world!

Their reaction to what they discover as the main problem they are faced with is so laid back they even crack jokes! Imagine a movie that is trying to be grounded, serious and scary having scenes where a guy being chased by a lion shouts to the lion "Woah... dude, not my a__se! You crazy!?". That's this film.

Or if aliens landed and the people in the movie reacts with casual dismissal before carrying on with hteir lives. That's this film.

I went in seeing it was low budget and giving it a pass because of that... but really, what was the director thinking?

As loop movies have proliferated, it gets easier to compare them to the best of the genre, and that's a real problem. At least, being a horror movie, this is unlikely to be compared to Groundhog Day.

There's some division about the quality of the acting. I actually enjoyed it. I tend to be more focused on plot over character, but the amount of contempt I felt for Jen was a good sign that both the script and acting were doing a good job. There's also a good amount of nuance going on, as we hear more about their relationship and what Dan is like, you are left to wonder how accurate her perspective is. But regardless of that, it's hard to fault Dan, since he's at least trying to make things work.

The quality of the loop is pretty messy. There are a few locations along the trail, but most of it is interchangeable, which makes everything pretty confusing. This is where the movie takes the big misstep - it's too confusing in the wrong places.

It should be easy for me to place events in a particular location, and with specific copies of the characters. There are too many copies of each character, and there isn't enough to differentiate them. This most likely intentional, but it tends to frustrate viewers if there's no way to understand what you're seeing.

I was very pleased with the ending. In order to bring the characters together, things get very dark. And I'm always happy to see a movie take a risk like this.