Hanah's Gift

Interesting -- looking at the user ratings as they stand now, this seems to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it movies with big spikes at 1 and 10 stars. Personally, I thought it was really great for what it was. What it was was quality ultra-low-budget indie horror/sci-fi. If it were me, I'd even add "/comedy" to that.

"Hanah's Gift" (note when searching that unusually, there's only one "n" in "Hannah" here) takes the overused horror film device of the "found footage POV camera" and instead makes it the POV of the title character's eyeballs, or other characters' eyeballs, when autistic Hanah uses her psychic powers to have an out-of-body experience where she temporarily does a ride-along in someone else's brain (accompanied by simple but very satisfying visual effects). This was years before the more high-profile "Hardcore Henry" did the first-person POV thing. The makers of "Hanah's Gift" did a very nice job of disguising the multiple takes they filmed this in as one seamless real-time 90-minute take, especially since they couldn't use the usual "dissolve across a camera whip-pan" trick, since we're seeing out of the eyes of a relatively catatonic little girl walking around rather than a camera that's being swung all over the place by an adult being chased by a monster/ghost/killer.

The dialogue was obviously semi-improvised (which is great for the realism of the first-person POV style), and not all the actors in this small independent production were equally up to the task. There are definitely one or two actors that may make you groan; my least favorite performance was unfortunately from the main antagonist, whose line deliveries sound like just that to me (though it is possible to buy it as just a really weird, possibly drug-addled affect), and who doesn't really sell her deranged mental state until the second half of the film, but the majority of the players are great. I kind of fell in love with (twentysomething) Victoria Mayers-Gray, who plays a hypercheerful teen with ADHD. She won the Rising Star Award at ShockerFest 2008 for this role, and she definitely deserved it. I found her portrayal of the unsinkable Toby to be as hilarious as it was adorable, and she's almost solely responsible for the "/comedy" I'd add to the genre list. I also really enjoyed Melanie Wise's naturalistic portrayal of a cynical suspended firefighter who fate wedges back into the role of badass heroine. (The main fight scene, choreographed by a stunt coordinator working under a pseudonym due to this probably being a non-union production, was particularly satisfying.) The score is by writer/director Zac Baldwin (who no, is not the fifth Baldwin brother they kept locked up in the basement), and I would be remiss if I didn't mention that one long talking scene is scored pretty badly -- a schmaltzy and meandering synthesized string solo that sounds like it's from "Ken Burns' Civil War" as directed by Roger Corman. I enjoyed the end-credits music, though, and other than those two instances, it didn't really register, so though I think Baldwin is a much better writer and director than a composer, that could've been worse.

The last thing I wanted to mention is that the mostly audio-only backstory rendition at the beginning of the film is one of the most effective film openings I've seen (even though the backstory didn't really end up being important to the plot in any way).

So, if you're a fan of non-studio productions and can forgive them their faults (the only glaring example of the low budget for me was the ski goggles they tried to pass off as next-generation night vision goggles), definitely check out this underrated little gem of a B-movie. I'm just sorry it's not available on DVD, and only (AFAIK) via Amazon Prime Video, as I'd love to own a future-proof copy of it. (Update: See Melanie Wise's reply to the copy of my review on Amazon -- she apparently has the only DVDs of the film in existence, and is willing to sell them.)

I'm a big fan of this movie because I've always loved indie films and the horror genre. The film delivers a full plate. It's full of action, suspense, drama, horror, comedy and romance. It leaves you on the edge of your seat throughout. You won't feel that you're "watching" a movie, because it is a POV movie that is shot so that you see everything through Hanah's eyes. You'll feel as though you are Hanah. And you'll feel that you are personally experiencing all that's happening on screen. This heightens and intensifies everything. It makes the action more exciting, the suspense more nail-biting, the drama more riveting, the horror more terrifying, the comedy funnier and the romance more personal -- everything more real. Hanah's Gift "keeps it real" and "makes it personal."

Too bad they didn't give the original editor, the one who made it work when no one else would touch it, credit. This movie was originally shot with sound that was not usable. No editor would touch it for two years. When the first offline editor took on the job he spent countless hours on the phone, free of charge, advising the production team on how to make it work better for post production. The first email the director sent after seeing the initial edit said, "Wow, I thought we might have wasted our time, but now I see that this will work!" Not sure why that editor was cut out of the credits, but it is a shame that the amount of work that went into was totally ignored.

Hannah's Gift paid off for me, it has the type of gritty realism Blair Witch had, with the "you are there" camera and this hint of reality that makes it all the more creepier. Performances simply outstanding. I got a kick out of this because, I hate to admit it, I've taken an anger management class myself, or course, actually it was after a small incident of road rage that was a court order as part of my settlement. Does anybody I know read this? No. Anyways, the whole anger management course was a huge joke, and to then see a film which turns the whole concept on its head and makes it into a HORROR movie was just a kick, I loved every minute of it and it didn't make me MAD, it just made me scream, then laugh, or squeal, then laugh again then SHOUT out loud with fright, well, that's what you like to do with a horror film right? Grab some popcorn and get angry and then check out this film its a nice piece of genre filmmaking with real authenticity.

Got a recommendation to watch this movie, and I'm glad I did. The movie follows the tried-and-true formula of a group of people getting killed one by one, but a couple of things make this one stand out. First, centering the film around an anger management group is a refreshing departure from the ordinary run-of-the-mill films I've seen in the genre. Secondly, the point of view and camera-work really add to the suspense. Tight shots and closeups make you feel like you're right in the middle of the action. This kind of movie doesn't work if the audience feels disconnected from what's going on with the characters, so the camera-work helps create that connection (and ultimately the overall atmosphere of suspense). Lastly, the score really is well done. That's the kind of thing you only notice when it's especially good or especially bad--in this case, it was definitely GOOD!

Halloween is coming up, and Hanah's gift is the perfect choice for a movie marathon.