I just finished watching this and I honestly feel that it deserves a higher rating than it's current 4.3. I mean, MOST films rated that low here are SERIOUSLY horrible! But, I really enjoyed it and even though it was rather simple and clearly very low budget, still, I felt that they did a very good job not only in keeping one's interest but also in actually building some suspense as the story progresses.
At first, I didn't really care for the main guy very much; but, as the story continued without giving too much away, I could see some logic in why he came across that way (heh... is that vague enough...?) As I usually mention in my reviews here, COMPARATIVELY, as far as the general competence, writing, direction, and particularly the acting, which is the usual weakness with lower budget films, I truly felt that they did a good job in putting across a good story with some good Thriller aspects and a good ending. I think the narration was a nice touch, especially considering the direction that the movie took ultimately. And even though the visual effects were pretty simple, they did well with what they had to work with. Some of the camera work / editing were done obviously to mask the low cost of the film and to simplify what normally might be a difficult 'action' scene; but again, all things considered, I felt that they did a good job.
The overall true theme and direction of the film has certainly been done many, MANY times before. For me personally, again without giving too much away, I usually do not find this specific kind of story very satisfying because it indeed HAS been So overdone in recent years. So, the fact that it falls within that general category and I still enjoyed it, says a lot, at least from me. With the exception of a few films that do this well (and NO, I am not gonna ruin it by naming them : ) I normally find the way that this type of film is handled usually comes across as rather clichéd with the ending being sort of a cop-out to explain things. In this film they do it MUCH better than usual, although I do believe this is the first film that I have seen this done where the story has been based upon an Alien / Abduction type sub-theme. I also REALLY liked that the ending was done in such a way as to leave you a perfectly balanced choice as to what was really going on... (thus the refreshing lack of it 'necessarily' having the usual obvious, cop-out ending)
So, FOR WHAT IT IS and as I have said almost in EVERY review that I have written here, compared to the literal TSUNAMI of crap that passes for entertainment these days, I am inclined to give a little low budget film like this a lot of slack where many others will simply dismiss it, as long as it is executed well, the actors don't drive me up the wall, the script is competent, and ABOVE ALL... a decent mood is set. Oh, btw, I really did like the sound design and I felt that it really added to the effectiveness of the film and made up quite a bit for it's low cost. I REALLY liked the closing song; I wish that it had lasted longer before they faded in the harder theme.
Overall I definitely give it a 6-7; certainly more than it is rated here...
