Admirable film.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I think it was which is why it doesn't make much sense. Serious cheapo 80's look and feel and a plot that's all over the place. Not in that vogue of slicing up a story a million ways and playing it back out of order that film school grads do. Just....a bunch of barely related stories. Like if Tales From the Crypt ran a bunch of different stories back with the same cast

I can honestly say I'm perplexed about the reviews panning this film. I can see how it's not for everyone, but you can't deny the outstanding acting, good script, and creative direction. It's not easy to pull off something this satisfying on a low budget! For me, it hit a lot of sweet spots: Detective noir/horror is one of my favorite genre mashups, the characters were strong but quirky, there was humor that arose from the established characters and situations (not from absurdity or just to be "funny", for the most part), and the story was mysterious without being too perplexing. Of course it had some flaws, so there will be mild SPOILERS here... First, they could have saved some of their limited budget by not placing the story in the near future. There was absolutely no reason for the heads-up displays on some of the smart-phones. I'm sure that wasn't cheap to do, and it added literally nothing to the story. If anything it detracted, since it never went anywhere.Second, probably the biggest flaw, is that the interpersonal beat that was the linchpin of the entire ending was not explained well enough before we got there. There were hints that it was some sort of big deal, but not enough IMO. A few lines of clarification beforehand would have helped - not giving everything away but at least giving us SOMETHING that wasn't totally opaque. And finally, there were some lines of dialog that were really hard to hear because of sound effects on the voice. They may have been able to hear it fine in the studio, but on a TV they were lost. Overall, however, I really loved this one! The acting, especially, was head and shoulders above what I'd expect in this sort of film, even down to the smaller characters. The lead actor James Clayton, as the P.I./estranged father, was particularly excellent. And the clever story told us just enough without getting into the tall weeds of over-explanation. All of that was so good that I can easily forgive a few cheesy effects - it's not their fault it was low-budget and I'm not above using my willing suspension of disbelief for a story I like. I for one am going to keep my eye out for a sequel!

The crowded poster for this film exemplifies its primary flaw - there were way too many ideas crammed into the run time. There was a decent story buried in this film - a father and daughter share pain and misunderstanding about the reason that he left her as a child. In a pared-down script, this could have had a big payoff. However, the story told here has a cursed book, time travel elements, a couple of pulp fiction heavies, professional wrestling, an 80s movie demon, a Lovecraftian jungle monster, lesbian romance and ghostly vengeance. Oh, and it is set in the near future (as we can tell by the omnipresent holographic displays) for no reason whatsoever. Still, it is not a total wash - individual scenes are decently handled and generally play better than expected. I saw a couple of reviews complaining about the acting, but the acting is at least adequate throughout, with some decent performances.

I got to watch this at Crypticon with the Director/writer, lead actor, and William B. Davis in attendance. They were all really nice and the movie was fantastic. The acting was very natural. The story line was great and I loved the little hints of things that paid homage to other movies that were an inspiration to this one. My only complaint is that it wasn't longer. The director told me their budget was pretty low and I can only image that if they had a bigger budget it would have been even better. But it was great as is. I really look forward to what he comes out with in the future.