USA 2013 90m Directed by: Jason Richard Miller. Starring: Parry Shen, Colton Dunn, Eddie Mui, Eric Artell, Beth Alspaugh, Erik Aude, Matt Corboy, Dana Davidson, Brian T. Finney, Marlene Forte, David Foy, Jennifer Gonzalez, Lee Ann Kim..
During a wild weekend in Las Vegas, four young friends get into trouble with a loan shark and must skip town in a hurry. But gambling problems may be the least of their worries after they get stranded in the Nevada desert. One of the guys discovers a mysterious metal fragment, then promptly goes missing during the night. When the remaining three catch up with their lost friend, there's something different about him. As his condition worsens, the others realize that something unearthly might be stalking them in the desert.
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I tried to like this film, I really did. It started off well and it promised to be fun, but as it progressed, it dragged badly.
It's an odd film in that it is almost two separate films joined together. The first half is a comedic road trip film. There were no segments in this part of the film that were done poorly, but there were just way too many segments. The bits and scenes just rambled on without going anywhere or adding to the story. This rambling did allow for some character development and set an overall tone, but I think the same result could have been had with better editing. The first half might have been actually good if it had been cut in half.
The second half of the film (almost to the minute) becomes more serious as trouble starts to befall the group of friends. The film really falls apart in the second half. The Blair Witch style filming worked in the first half but gets silly and implausible in the second half...not to mention down right annoying as the film limps to its conclusion. There aren't as many pointless scenes in the second half, but most of them are too drawn out. The reactions and motivations of the characters seems unrealistic for the most part. Even though the phenomenon that these guys witness is the point of the movie, the script can't seem to convey any sense of awe or horror. It's almost like the writers knew they had nothing and were stretching film time to connect to the ending. The end scene, overall, is interesting, but the Blair Witch hand held camera becomes truly irritating. While the ending scenes are mildly interesting, they don't do much to answer any questions. I think the filmmakers were going for tantalizing but got unfulfilling instead.
If I hadn't decided to write a review of this film (no one had reviewed it yet), I doubt I would have watched the whole thing. I think this might have made a good short film instead of a feature length film; maybe there's no money in making shorts.
Review by pattypattydang from United States from the Internet Movie Database.