The Other Side

Well I see another film has made it to the over rated list, however this film is to unknown to be over rated. Other than fill 90 minutes before bed, it offered poor, very dry humor with a whole cast of overacting, underacting with a cherry on top.

Maybe I'm being to hash given that this is a low budget film, however a lot of corny dialog and the worst ending I've seen with no thought put into it, I was surprised I finished watching it.

It seems to me they director tried to make this movie something like The Matrix, with agents from hell chasing, shooting, slicing, dicing their victims with perfect precision but whenever the main character was shot at they just seemed to....miss (maybe divine intervention I don't know). This seems to be typical step for any action movie these days.

Well as I stated in my title, I am very confused how this movie got over a 7, it has been my understanding that this is a pretty high score for IMDb. Maybe I under appreciate this movie or miss understood its greatness but I know what I like and I didn't like this.

"The other side" succeeds in creating a suspenseful action movie! Personally I would like to have seen more of the "Hell" dimension where the main character escaped from. I think they didn't show it because of the low budget. For the most part it isn't noticeable that this is a low budget production. The acting is even decent. The unknown cast are fairly convincing in their roles. I think they did what they could. I do think it is a shame that we don't learn much more about "the reapers" and "hell". That would have shifted the focus more and would be more interesting. In stead it is used as a sub plot. The mystery is all about the main character girlfriend's who is missing. This story line is certainly thrilling. Although sometimes the action scenes are more distracting and pointless and get in the way of the mystery. But to be fair the action scenes are nicely done. And there is enough eyecandy to keep the male audience happy. The female reapers (in black leather) sure are hot and dangerous. Because of the main character and the mystery about his girlfriend you get sucked in to the story. The fast pace really helps and is one of the reasons that make this into an entertaining movie. Worth watching!

No pun intended - Gregg Bishop: he did one of the funniest zombie comedies I have seen: Dance of the Dead. He did not write the script for that one and Jaime Alexander was not part of that either (the latter being a bit sad - at least for me). She seems to be a bit of a go to woman for him, has appeared in a few things he did - one of them being this one right here.

That said, the movie is a bit ... well there may be a bit too much cutting, a bit too much story. It is tough to follow and there are too many characters for its own good. I assume it was well intended, but it is quite confusing at times. Where (or when) are we? And what is the movie trying to tell us? Not to mention the weird (almost non reaction) to people doing stuff that normal humans are not able to do ... if this is supposed to tell us that what we see is not real ... well the movie does not the best job in being clear about it.

Still there is something interesting here - and if you forgive the flaws and all the insanity that is going on .. you can be entertained ... maybe even understand what the movie is trying to tell us/you.

OK now I liked this movie unlike a lot of the straight to DVD movies that I have watched, it had some great action along with some good fights as well. I really liked the whole escape from Lucifer's bounty hunters idea, this movie had a little bit of something for everyone, it had action, humor, thrills, and even sadness towards the ending. I liked the movie although I thought the ending could have been a lot better if it was given a little more thought. Altogether I give this movie a 7 out of 10 because I enjoyed it, I have seen theatrical films that could learn a thing or two from this film even though I wasn't a big fan of the ending. I would recommend this to action fans and those who like thrillers because this movie is certainly not disappointing.

I am writing this from the viewpoint that this movie was made for $15,000 not from the perspective that it was made for a Hollywood Blockbuster budget. For that budget, this is probably the best movie I have ever seen. Normally, I would have expected this would have cost about $200,000 to make.

As for the movie, it begins as a manic mess. The cuts are mostly just a blur. Some of them are on screen long enough to actually see. Some aren't. I am not a fan of cuts of less than 2 seconds. The brain cannot comprehend and remember anything shorter so it is a waste of film. A lot of film time was wasted with too-short cuts.

The story comes together after all the short cuts, slowly. After about 30 minutes, you finally have some idea of what the film is about. I prefer having some backstory up front. Yeah, it is old-school-routine but it was routine for a reason, and that reason has not gone away: To involve the viewer. Without it, some people will just hit stop and walk away wondering what they wasted the time and blacklist the writer/producer/director. Not a good thing.

To the good side, the cinematography was good. Lighting and sound were good. This is Hollywood quality production for cheap. Good job. Just the story is a little wonky but we can live through that. Somewhat like Chain Reaction, it is a big chase movie with a small mystery plot to hold the scenes together. And they tip the ending way too early.

The most interesting and original idea is that there is a back door to hell and people can get out. Interesting, if there were such a place.

The worst part of this movie and many others is that the dialog is too soft and the music is too loud. In the theaters, it is probably illegally loud. At home, it means constantly jacking the sound up and down. Really annoying. -1 star for extreme dynamic range.

Summary: Worth a watch. Exceptional for the budget!!