Fever

For its mere 90 minutes, this film packs a lot of punch. Intriguing, beguiling story ... excellent cinematography ... first rate sets ... solid, even direction ... all around good acting ... wonderfully ambiguous ending. Total treat!

To sum-up: Fever is a very dark, shadow-filled look into the formation of emotional disease and discomfort. The acting is very good on Henry Thomas' part as well as the direction by Alex Winter (Bill from the infamous Bill & Ted films) but the storyline has a few out-of-place moments and enough awkwardness to make even the sleepiest of viewers cringe.

Pro's & con's:

+ Henry Thomas' performance (you'll have trouble believing that it's the kid from E.T.)

+ Alex Winter's high quality and sometimes colorful directing style (including some nice, steady camera work which was more fitting for a film like this)

• Very cheap visual effects

• By the time it ends you'll feel like you've wasted your time

Winter doesn't seem to have his head around the screenplay for "Fever", a dark and morose drama about a young, disturbed NYC slum dwelling artist (Thomas) who is caught up in a trio of murders . The film paints a portrait so nebulous as to leave many questions unanswered as it plods toward an unsatisfying conclusion with a sort of Hitchcockesque style. Unfortunately we're not given reason to care about the principle and are left to wait for the other shoe to drop all the way to rolling credits. "Fever" is an okay watch technically and artistically which offers solid performances. However, the screenplay misses opportunities to put more meat on the bones of a story with unrealized potential. Okay fodder for couch potatoes into quirky film noir psychodramas.

Extremely atmospheric thriller starts out great, as young artist (Thomas) living in hellish urban apartment grows more and more paranoid as other tenants end up dead. The high production value and Thomas' performance maintain the interest, but the script -- reminiscent of other, better pictures -- goes nowhere fast, with a been there, done that "surprize" ending you can predict 20 minutes into the film. Seriously ruined by a slapped on, cop-out finale that leaves you furious and unsatisfied.

I saw this film at the Toronto Film Festival. It blew me away. It's a really detailed examination of paranoia and psychosis - without spoiling the story. I was really impressed with the way the film looked, and the quality of the acting. Alex Winter is from my home town (St. Louis) and I was surprised by how different this film was from his older comedy work. It's a deeply thought-out film, different in a lot of ways from everything else that's out there in the indie scene right now. It takes its subject matter seriously, and doesn't treat the audience like idiots. I had some problems with the pacing of the film - it's slow in some places. And it could have used more of a soundtrack. But it's a really cool movie in spite of its weaknesses. The weird images stayed with me for weeks afterwards. They haunt your dreams.