13 Seconds

The horror genre in general tends to be cyclical in nature. For the last few years I, for one, have been waiting with baited breath to see who will be the next Craven, the next Carpenter, the next Romero or Hooper. Who will bring the next wave of horror to this generation? The answer can easily be found in 13 Seconds, the first full-length feature video release by Jeff Thomas.

The story, which seems secondary until the end, revolves around 'Night Gallery', a rock band, who makes the poor decision to record in an abandoned private school. Before we even get a chance to question the character's logic the movie keeps rolling into a miasma of disembodied voices, bizarre shadows roaming the hallway, and other gruesome surprises. The plot continues to move along at a pace where by the time we think we've figured out what is going on something new is thrown at us at a nightmarish, disjointed pace. Sure, the plot contains a few inconsistencies but by the time we've noticed them we're moving along to the next nasty surprise. By the time the credits roll the plot has wrapped itself up into a nice, tight, unusually satisfying finale that does what few modern mainstream efforts force us to do: Think. During those final credits I sat stunned knowing that I had seen the beginning of the next wave of modern horror.

That being said, this film isn't perfect. The acting does tend toward the wooden side. At times when I would have been s***ting my pants, crying like a little girl, and creating a large Reaper sized hole in the brick wall the characters tend to accept their fate in a surprisingly calm manner. But that's easy to forgive when you're immersed in an authentically creepy world filled with fog, shadows, and a lot of, lot of, lot of blood being splattered against the walls, dripping on the floor, and pouring out of the more unfortunate characters. In fact, if the acting is wooden the photography is absolutely double jointed.

Director and star Jeff Thomas knows what he wants to see and I loved it! The atmosphere is perfect and each shot is like viewing a gallery of grande guingol artwork piece by piece. At worst the shots are interesting and at best they are absolutely terrifying. From a technical standpoint 13 Seconds delivers in a way not seen since the heyday of Mario Bava. The light and art design is secondary to the way that Thomas utilizes those devices in a way that caresses every separate frame creating some of the creepiest imagery ever captured on film. Every scene is shot in a way that enraptures the audience and dares them to look away from the screen.

A film like 13 Seconds has been a long time coming as the nostalgia for the films of twenty years ago spring forth a new generation of horror. When asking whom the next John Carpenter is, the next West Craven is, the next George Romero is I honestly cannot answer. However, ask me who the next great horror filmmaker will be and I will, without hesitation answer Jeff Thomas. While Freddy brings the laughs, Jason brings the muscle, and Leatherface brings the intensity, there is a young director out there who will bring the nightmares for many more years to come. 13 Seconds is brilliant, beautiful, and mindblowing. Welcome to the new age of horror!

My father in law bought some kind of stock in this movie. (I think he made a bad investment.) That is how I came across it. At first, the story is confusing and you are wondering what in the world is going on. They do not explain anything at all in the beginning. On several occasions, I was about to shut this movie off but do not. The story only gets better with time. More secrets are revealed Later in the movie. They movie is choppy with the scenes and is very hard to follow. The acting killed the movie. It was the worst acting I have ever seen. The characters talk in the same tone even when someone is ripped open right in front of them. This is definitely a low budget film. The only good things are the surprises and the gore. It could have been a good movie with decent acting and a bigger budget.

Grades: Acting: D- (This would be an F but Jeff Thomas does a decent job as the lead) Suspense: C- Sometimes this movie was too slow sometimes it was too fast Gore: B- This was the best part Story: C It sucked at first but revealed a lot in the end Characters: D You had no clue who was a main character or if they were dead Overall: C- had the potential to be good but nothing was explained well Do not buy this movie! If you see it on a shelf at blockbuster, rent it along with some other horror flicks you never heard of and compare them. This movie is not worth five bucks to own. The acting is one reason to see this movie. ( IT is so horrible it is worth more than the movie itself.

By far the worst movie I've ever seen. I actually enjoy watching bad movies. I can find ways to enjoys movies most people think are pure ****, but this movie is an all-time low. As I said, it's the worst movie I've ever seen, so far. I always hate it when I see people that say this about a movie, since with all the movies in the world, I find it hard to believe that so and so could be the worst movie ever made, but honestly, I promise you, believe me, for the love of God listen to me, this is the worst movie I have ever seen. This movie makes Plan 9 from Outer Space look like Casablanca. The acting is garbage. I don't know how they pulled it off, but the acting is actually far worse than that of the films and videos from my past art classes. I didn't think you could act this bad if you tried, but they somehow managed to pull it off. The script is incoherent gibberish, just God awful. The direction is crap. How many close ups do you need? I do have to commend the "director/writer" for being able to dupe people into seeing it, since I found it in Blockbuster that means he was able to make some money off the movie. As for that, I am impressed. As for the movie, I had more fun with a scorching case of syphilis.

... horrible, horrible. I made the mistake of picking up this movie at my local rental store based on its cover alone. Big mistake. '13 seconds' sucks on all fronts: the acting, the story, the sound, the camera-work - all sink below any standards I can recall having ever seen on this side of my father's home videos from the 1980's. I'm usually a fan of low budget and independent horror, but in this case there's no redemption possible. The combination of absolutely no talent and next to no budget calls for disastrous results. The only thing scary about this movie is that it actually manages to strike up some positive reviews... truly horrifying!

Wow what a steaming pile of dung.

While I enjoy low-budget gore as much as the next guy, this one was almost unbearable to watch. This was mainly due to the acting, if you can call it that. Every person in this flick had the same monotone voice coming from the same expressionless face. For a horror film there was a decided lack of screaming. I would expect some screams when one is getting hacked in half, or their chest ripped open, but I think there were a total of 4 screams in the entire film.

I can't believe this thing won awards. It must have been the only entry.

Can I have 90 minutes of my life back please?