Here are some positives and negatives to the film.
Positives: Director got Cathy Podewell to return to the silver screen. I thought she did very well as the mother, and she was the strongest actor in the film.
For a very low budget film, the practical effects and score were good.
Jeremiah Lee (Steinert), and Kharn (Cody) Alexander did pretty good performances, and were the other notable standouts in the movie.
I appreciated the moody sets and design that were used, considering the budget.
The plot was good. A killer lures the intended victim back home with a murder, and tortures him by killing his friends one by one. It's been used before, but it was a solid plot line.
Negatives: The script was not great. Character development was lacking with plenty of the actors. Dialogue was rough throughout the film.
While the overall plot was fine, there are pretty big plotholes throughout the film. Not sure if these plotholes were editing issues where story was left out, or if the script just didn't consider them, but it made the movie confusing in certain spots.
Quite a few performances were wooden, while Newman had wavering quality in performance in his portrayal of Riley. Since he was the main character and the bulk of the dialogue, it made the film weaker when Riley was just throwing tantrums rather than driving the plot forward.
Overall, I didn't hate the film. I gave it a 3.8, which rounds up to a 4. There are strong elements here that Newman improves on his second film. However, there are huge demerits that hurt this film that have nothing to do with the low budget. I do think Newman has some improvement to do in his scripts though, and I think that can elevate his films, and potentially his performances in them.
Positives: Director got Cathy Podewell to return to the silver screen. I thought she did very well as the mother, and she was the strongest actor in the film.
For a very low budget film, the practical effects and score were good.
Jeremiah Lee (Steinert), and Kharn (Cody) Alexander did pretty good performances, and were the other notable standouts in the movie.
I appreciated the moody sets and design that were used, considering the budget.
The plot was good. A killer lures the intended victim back home with a murder, and tortures him by killing his friends one by one. It's been used before, but it was a solid plot line.
Negatives: The script was not great. Character development was lacking with plenty of the actors. Dialogue was rough throughout the film.
While the overall plot was fine, there are pretty big plotholes throughout the film. Not sure if these plotholes were editing issues where story was left out, or if the script just didn't consider them, but it made the movie confusing in certain spots.
Quite a few performances were wooden, while Newman had wavering quality in performance in his portrayal of Riley. Since he was the main character and the bulk of the dialogue, it made the film weaker when Riley was just throwing tantrums rather than driving the plot forward.
Overall, I didn't hate the film. I gave it a 3.8, which rounds up to a 4. There are strong elements here that Newman improves on his second film. However, there are huge demerits that hurt this film that have nothing to do with the low budget. I do think Newman has some improvement to do in his scripts though, and I think that can elevate his films, and potentially his performances in them.