Experimento fatal

The actors were so likable in this, I feel bad saying anything negative about it, but yet this really was a rather dull movie. It's really not for anyone who is looking to be entertained, though it is somewhat interesting from the perspective of someone wanting to study the film-making process. The reason for this is that the process is pretty obvious, here - in truly terrific filmmaking, you can't tell what's going on "behind the scenes", so to speak - i.e., casting, special effects, acting... But with this, there really isn't any way to forget that it's a movie and get lost in the story.

Still, it's interesting enough for me, but I tend to be able to enjoy things most people wouldn't waste toilet paper on. So I can't recommend this for most folks. Look up some previews and clips on YouTube or some such, and just from that you should be able to tell if it's your type of thing or not, as the entire film is made with pretty much the same pacing and tone the whole way through (slow and dull).

I must admit, however, the guy who was the lead actor (at least for a time) was pretty cute, and not too bad at it, either. Hope to see more of him. :-)

This is the way horror oughta be! Reminiscent of the style of horror movies done in the early 1970s such as the original "The Hills Have Eyes", this eerie, disturbingly-realistic portrait of a secret government experiment performed on an average small American town and its unwitting townsfolk will have you peering out your window at any suspicious vehicle lurking about. With a relatively unknown cast and an obvious shoestring budget, the director of this movie knows what it takes to creatively construct a sinister atmosphere within an everyday, common setting and hold your attention. The acting is well above-average for such an inexperienced cast and they are able to pull their roles off most convincingly. Shot in northern Indiana, the bleak winter landscapes add an unsettling feel to the overall mood. At the risk of letting any spoilers out of the bag, let's just say I was mesmerized throughout the first 3/4 of the film and found myself jumping at every little noise. While the last 1/4 of the movie does end up relying on cheap special effects, the majority of the film is very creepy and sure to satisfy most sci-fi/horror buffs. 8 stars.

I had to watch this movie in two sittings after falling asleep after the first 45 minutes.

What kept me going were some positive user comments in the IMDb, however, after watching further minutes of this film being wasted on endless shots of walls and doorknobs I was galvanized to write this comment.

What did come across quite well in this picture was the portrayal of dull working class life in America and the depiction of deadbeat contemporary steel manufacturing, which may not be what the film maker intended primarily.

The filmmaker needs to work more on the element of surprise for startling horror, like in "The Descent" for instance.

I got a kick out of the dark factory scenes. I worked in factories when I was young and they were all lit up, but they felt as dark as the one here. My favorite role, the old guy with TV problems; freakiest role, the mom who can't be reached; most endearing role, the daughter of the old guy; most sympathetic role, the guy who has to bum rides to his job. I thought the other actors were good too. Anyone who's been a grunt will recognize the perennially angry cigarette-smoking foreman. The deleted portions included on the DVD were lively and some of them added to the story and made me wish they'd been included in the movie. A couple things didn't make sense to me, but neither did the fact that I nearly got creamed by a tow truck that drove onto the sidewalk while I was walking home from work tonight. Moody, weird, tells a story ... I liked it.

...Whichever you believe it is, the light radiating from my TV while watching this movie was extremely SSSSLLLLLLOOOOOOOOW moving! ...Or maybe it was just the movie itself... Though it was not a terrible movie.

I had time to go and browse Websites to review what I remember about the electromagnetic spectrum trying to guess which wavelengths were being used in this story. And while I did that and checked e-mail, I didn't feel that I had missed anything at all in the film. There were probably about 14 minutes of critical scenes and the rest is pretty much build-up, so feel free to catch up on bills or do your taxes throughout this one.

For some reason, I enjoyed the acting of some of the characters. The two younger male leads seemed to be very genuine, and I don't think the factory foreman even knew he was in a movie and may have been operating a real machine shop the whole time. In fact, there was a very real feeling to the representation of an entire small community revolving around the work life at a single large industrial/factory work type employer. Maybe this is why whoever perpetrated this experiment chose this town--other than whatever the factory produced, no one in America would miss anyone or anything in this town if it disappeared one day.

Many parts of this film reminded me of the almost farcical, terrible attempt at bat zombie-ism "The Roost". In fact, they could have been filmed on the same location. Though in contrast to the truly terrible "The Roost", this film had a lot better cinematic, and pseudo-scientific value. Probably the scariest element of the film overall was the relationship between the young child (who even though the weather was cold, did not seem to go to school) and his single mother *shudder*.

Overall, I think they could have ramped up the zombie-factor of the film. Though there isn't really any analog to traditional zombie genre concepts, this movie could have gone that way. I mean, everybody loves a good zombie film, right? I don't think I'd want to ever watch it again, but some of the actors (or maybe it was just the characters) were nice enough that it wouldn't be terrible (or unbelievable) meeting them in Rural Indiana. If anything, this film might urge you to evaluate your life, and the value and meaning of life itself--because it's obviously NOT meant for us to work 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shifts day in and day out with NO hope of a better waking life.