Threshold

A brother obeys his mother's call to bring his troubled sister to rehab, but the journey leads down an unexpected road ...

Road trip as psychic horror, in the company of two characters who gradually flesh out their relationship piece by piece through off the cuff conversations. The performances are as good as you could hope for, with intimate little barbs thrown in to show a real past shared by the damaged siblings.

This is pitched with sophistication, messing up the story technique to get at deep truths, but I'm not sure it succeeds. It starts out to explore what underlies addiction, with an interesting side angle on the closed circuit of the rehab cult, but by the end includes the brother too without giving a clue on the broadened picture. They both end up confronting the same phenomenon, but it's impossible to say why they should each have suffered the same damage.

I liked this a lot, from the way it introduces the story with incomplete information, scenes that skew reality without going all trippy, pared down scenes that let the audience fill in the details, and the well judged score. The phone camera works well, although it wasn't used much for queasy close-ups. For some reason the back seat angles just reminded me that I couldn't see the characters' faces, and I wondered why not just use the fixed point trick from the bank heist in Gun Crazy, which really gives the audience the sense of eavesdropping on the characters in the front seats.

Some reviews say this isn't a horror, but it does what the best horror does: to put characters who think they have an explanation for what's happening up against the deadly reality, and see how they react. It's just that I couldn't make out the pattern or if there was closure in the end.

I compare this to Unsane, a movie that also uses the phone camera to provide a psychic take on an everyday experience - but in a way that remains aware of what it's trying to convey, and that actually makes the camera - or the view point - part of the story telling.

Overall: Very interesting, but maybe the film makers lack the experience to let the initial theme play itself out.

The Facts:...Shot on 2 i-Phones...Over 12 Days...Crew of 3. Talk About "Minimalist" or "Primitive-Art".

This Couldn't be More so. Maybe Using 1 i-Phone instead of 2. Or Reduce the Crew to 1. Instead of an Outline, No Paper Reference.

But Seriously, Ever Since the Finding of "Found-Footage" Success, Movies have Achieved What was Only a "Dream" Back in the 8mm/Super-8 Days.

That Being a "Backyard" Effort from Film-Fans to "Make a Movie" and put it Front of an Audience.

"Found-Footage" has Now Seen a "Replacement" Format for those Dreamers. With Little or No Monetary Investment Involved, just Willing, Able, and Ready "Film-Makers with an Idea and Someone Nearby to "Clap-Board" and Say..."Action".

That Being Said, These "Newbie" Film-Makers Might Say a Prayer for Ed Wood whose Most Remarkable Achievement is that He Full-Filled His Dream and Actually Made Movies with Almost No Money.

Considering the Working Conditions Ed Wood Movies are Watchable, Wonky, and Wonderful, One Could Say. That's What This Is...Watchable. Whether it's "Worth a Watch" is a Matter of Taste. Like All Minimalist, Primitive, and Underground Art.

It Takes an "Open-Mind" and an Appreciation. With that in Mind. This Psychological Terror About Drug-Addiction, Cults, and Family Bonding/Relationships was a Treat. Never Boring, and Compelling.

However the Ending is One of Those Left Hanging, and Explanations Not Forthcoming. A Letdown.

After All the Effort in "Getting it Done". An Independent Film, Out of the Gate, Should Never Leave the Audience in Suspended Disbelief because, in The End, it Should End with Applause, Not What the...?

Watched randomly as it was streaming on the Arrow app. Had no idea what I was watching and just put it on to fall asleep to. Instead I ended up riveted to the screen. The chemistry between the 2 lead actors was amazing, especially when I learned that the dialogue was entirely improvised by the actors themselves. The film was shot on an iPhone which also surprised me as it looked quite polished and professional. The ending was somewhat abrupt and left me wanting more but all in all I was amazed at what they were able to accomplish with so little. The female lead is definitely someone I hope to see in more roles.

This movie sure made a lot for itself, from great character development, to a nice plot, little pieces of mystery and the promise of horror.

Now the latter one arrives at the end mark, it has a nice touch but doesn't qualify the movie as horror so if you're genre hunting, look elsewhere. It acts beautifully as a drama, perhaps, just a tad bit, a psychological edge as well, but even tho it presents itself quite lovely and has a nice flow to it, the ending made it feel incomplete. We get to know a lot about the characters, and for a low budget horror I must add that they were not annoying ones, which was a surprise, you even get to root for them, yet the feeling of always expecting for the action to start, for more plot to develop stays with you and never gets satisfied.

So all in all, a great little film that is not a horror. It seems like a made-for-tv production, cute way to spend your time, I doubt that it even has an age limit really.

Cheers!

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Threshold; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 0.75 Direction: 0.75 Pace: 0.75 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 0.75

TOTAL: 4.25 out of 10.00.

I love a good indie film as much as the next guy, and the horror field holds plenty. It would appear the art-house crowd selected horror over the other genres. I never understood why. Do they think it's an easy genre to master? Well, as many prove, like Threshold, it isn't. And, like the preponderance of modern horror flicks, I found it wanting.

I loved the premise of the story. An estranged brother and sister are reunited when brother Leo gets a call from his mom asking him to go and pick up his sister. He's reluctant to help because he knows she has problems. The last time he saw her, she was doing drugs. Is that who she still is? Unsure of what he'll find, he sets off across America in his old, stickered-up, clunker. What he encounters is strange indeed. His sister Virginia is adamant that she was attacked and bonded to a strange man via a black-magic ritual. Of course, Leo disbelieves everything she says. He believes she's smacked out of her skull. But what is the truth? Lamentably, like so many before, and more than likely, so many after, writer Patrick Robert Young fails to fill out the story. The narrative required more research and depth to add to its credibility. And because this is predominantly a two-person flick where very little happens, Young should've developed the brother and sister roles and relationship. However, there were no moments when I considered that the pair were-or could be related. And that is the major setback and letdown of the tale. Even though Young fails with the occult sections of the story, it could've still been a decent tale had the characterisations been more robust.

And the direction is similar - Good ideas, mediocre usage, and laziness in execution. The sequence in which Leo fetches his car out of storage showed promise. There are a couple of nicely composed shots. But then we get the horrid filming of the karaoke where the abominable shakey camera rears its unappealing head. But the worst thing about the movie is the lack of atmosphere. Threshold is a slow-burn horror film, so it needed to crawl under your skin and scratch at your soul. But that dread and eerieness are missing. Instead, the slow pace makes the whole film dull and dreary. If this flick chills you, then stay away from the Exorcist; that'll give you a pea-soup heart attack.

The performers are okay. Nobody will be winning an Oscar, but I have watched worse. For me, the stand-out performance came from the house invader, Jed, played by John Terrell. In the few minutes he's on screen, he employs a plethora of characterisations. He's initially angry and on the offensive when he finds Leo and Virginia in his sister's house. After they explain that they've rented the property for the night, he becomes friendly and jokes with them. But when Virginia has an attack, he thinks she's on drugs, so he becomes sinister and domineering because he wants her stash. Jed's segment is the best in the film. Sadly six minutes isn't enough.

Threshold could've been an original and potent horror movie if the writer and the director had more skill and had taken more time on the project. Sadly, it's less than mediocre, and as such, I can't recommend it to anyone. There are so many better horror flicks out there. Come on, people. Pull those socks up.

What do you mean, you're bonded to a bloke you don't know? Take that syringe out of your arm and check out my IMDb list - Absolute Horror, to see where I ranked Threshold.

Take Care & Stay Well.