Project Dorothy

I used to trust the score on here when a film had over 1k votes. Well, not anymore. This film has almost 2k votes and this (at the time of writing this) was a high 5 score, which is good for a horror. This however, is not good, not good at all.

This is so poor. Its so low budget, the film goes nowhere, and to say this is a horror is a big stretch. It's a 2 at best, I wasted an hour on this, and hour I won't get back. I presume whoever made the film, had a contact that owned a huge factory that they could use to film in, the factory is the only impressive part of the film. With such a good location, this is a huge waste and they could have done something decent.

It's watchable despite essentially being what can only be described as a two-hander episode of a scifi anthology show never seen outside of a place like Canada in the 90s but that somehow influenced Black Mirror in a cursory way.

The premise is slightly believable if you really don't think about it. But the male leads are fun to watch in their bumbling but also oddly tech-savvy criminal ways.

The opening song is really good. It is called "Here to Stay" by a musical entity named Knives at Sea. Not sure it fits over the expository montage that starts the film. A lot of the movie does that. Incongruous pieces jammed together in a clunky narrative.

Still wasn't the worst thing I have ever seen. Oh, and there is corn. If you fear corn, be warned.

It was with a bit of hesitation that I sat down to watch the 2024 sci-fi thriller titled "Project Dorothy", as I happened to stumble upon it by random chance. I had never heard about the movie, but I have to say that the movie's cover and synopsis just wasn't really doing much of making it seem like a stellar movie.

Regardless, I opted to give the movie a fair chance, on account of it being a movie that I hadn't already seen. So in a sense, then I suppose writers George Henry Horton and Ryan Scaringe had every opportunity to entertain and impress me with their movie.

The storyline concocted by writers George Henry Horton and Ryan Scaringe proved rather bland. It was a movie that I had problems submerging myself into, because it was just hard to take it serious. Growling forklifts? What's up with that? And the movie just didn't have an ounce of being as high tech as the synopsis made it out to be.

Needless to say that I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. The acting performances were fair, but you're not in for anything grand here. It was a small cast ensemble, so the actors and actresses had to put on more convincing performances to carry the movie.

Visually then you're not in for any grand spectacle of special effects. It was a rather low tech and low key movie in terms of special effects.

I was not particularly entertained by the movie, as I happen to not find unseen things moving about and growling as proper entertainment, nor do I consider lights being continuously switched on and off as being entertaining.

While "Project Dorothy" wasn't an impressive movie, I have to say that I've sat through worse sci-fi thrillers than what director George Henry Horton delivered here. This movie was one where you just disconnect your brain and blankly watch the screen, as it offers nothing to think about.

My rating of "Project Dorothy" lands on a very generous three out of ten stars.

This film does a lot with very little. It's not a big-budget CGI-laden flick or all-star cast A24-style production, but you never get the sense it's trying to be. It's rather an exercise in budget minimalism within the action-thriller genre, a class of film where operating with little budget is incredibly challenging. In that, it surpasses all expectations.

The first thing that stands out is the acting, which stands up admirably against any action thriller, but is head and shoulders above performances in other action B movies. As a lover of this genre, I can tell you that the performances in these kinds of movies are often an afterthought, if not altogether scorned by the cast and crew. In Project Dorothy by contrast, the performances between the film's two stars (Tim DeZarn plays an aging criminal mentor to Adam Budron's character, Blake) feel multilayered, yet natural. The film is not a dialogue-first character piece, but it does interweave a good character-to-character subplot below the main brunt of action and suspense, something movies with 10X this film's budget so often fail to do.

The writing also holds up well, with dialogue not feeling forced or over-engineered, and a pacing structure that neither feels too fast nor too slow (another common pitfall of the genre).

Lastly, the directing deserves a lot of praise for, again, doing a lot with very little. Keeping an entire film within the confines of an abandoned warehouse is not an easy task for an easily bored action-thriller viewer base (I count myself among them), but the film at no point feels boring or rushed. There are brief moments of camp or that require a brief suspension of disbelief (why is there no dust in the warehouse, for example), but among the pantheon of sins this genre is known for, these are easily forgiven and forgotten, and all in all, I was having far too much fun to care.

All in all, this film does an impressive with incredibly little. Hats off to the filmmakers for their efficiency and skill in taking what should have been another wooden micro-budget B-movie, and making it a fun, engaging, and at times even heartfelt story.

Project Dorothy had the potential to be a captivating film, but unfortunately, it fails to live up to expectations. The acting throughout the movie is subpar, lacking the depth and emotion needed to truly engage the audience. Furthermore, the script feels uninspired and overly generic, especially in its portrayal of technology. Instead of offering innovative ideas or thought-provoking concepts, the technological aspects of the film come across as unrealistic and disconnected from reality.

As a viewer, it's difficult to suspend disbelief and fully immerse oneself in the story when the technological elements don't make sense. This lack of coherence detracts from the overall viewing experience and leaves the audience feeling disconnected from the narrative.

Ultimately, 'Project Dorothy' is not a particularly enjoyable movie. Despite its potential, it fails to deliver on multiple fronts, from the quality of the acting to the believability of the script. While it may have some redeeming qualities, such as decent production values or an interesting premise, these are overshadowed by the film's numerous shortcomings.

In summary, 'Project Dorothy' is a disappointing film that falls short of its potential. With poor acting, a generic script, and technological inconsistencies, it fails to captivate audiences and ultimately leaves them feeling underwhelmed.