The Other Side

OK now I liked this movie unlike a lot of the straight to DVD movies that I have watched, it had some great action along with some good fights as well. I really liked the whole escape from Lucifer's bounty hunters idea, this movie had a little bit of something for everyone, it had action, humor, thrills, and even sadness towards the ending. I liked the movie although I thought the ending could have been a lot better if it was given a little more thought. Altogether I give this movie a 7 out of 10 because I enjoyed it, I have seen theatrical films that could learn a thing or two from this film even though I wasn't a big fan of the ending. I would recommend this to action fans and those who like thrillers because this movie is certainly not disappointing.

After his graduation in Business from Columbia, Samuel North (Nathan Mobley) returns to his hometown in Athens County to meet his beloved fiancée Hanna Thompson (Jaimie Alexander). Sam calls Hanna, who work as waitress at the Montana's and he schedules the encounter "in their place" nearby a waterfall. Hanna never arrives and Sam is killed by the driver of a van and sent to Hell. However, there is a breach and many lost souls escape from the Pit including Sam back to the world of the living. While they are chased by the hunters from the hell called Reapers, who can switch bodies when they are killed and are called Switchers and leaded by the powerful Changeling, Sam finds that Hanna is missing and he is the prime suspect. Sam is helped by the former thief Oz (Poncho Hodges) and the former adulterer Mally (Cory Rouse) from the other side that believe they can find redemption helping Sam, and by his friend and policeman Peter (Stephen Caudill) and discovers the identity and the motives of the assassin.

"The Other Side" is a great supernatural story disclosed in a fast-pace and lots of humor. This low-budget movie has a great development of the plot and characters, using the principles of faith, redemption, sin, heaven and hell and excellent performances of the unknown cast. If it is true that Gregg Bishop made this movie with only US$ 15,000.00, I would like to give additional congratulations for this lesson to Hollywood with one of the best indie movies ever. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Anjos da Morte" ("Angels of the Death")

"The other side" succeeds in creating a suspenseful action movie! Personally I would like to have seen more of the "Hell" dimension where the main character escaped from. I think they didn't show it because of the low budget. For the most part it isn't noticeable that this is a low budget production. The acting is even decent. The unknown cast are fairly convincing in their roles. I think they did what they could. I do think it is a shame that we don't learn much more about "the reapers" and "hell". That would have shifted the focus more and would be more interesting. In stead it is used as a sub plot. The mystery is all about the main character girlfriend's who is missing. This story line is certainly thrilling. Although sometimes the action scenes are more distracting and pointless and get in the way of the mystery. But to be fair the action scenes are nicely done. And there is enough eyecandy to keep the male audience happy. The female reapers (in black leather) sure are hot and dangerous. Because of the main character and the mystery about his girlfriend you get sucked in to the story. The fast pace really helps and is one of the reasons that make this into an entertaining movie. Worth watching!

I am writing this from the viewpoint that this movie was made for $15,000 not from the perspective that it was made for a Hollywood Blockbuster budget. For that budget, this is probably the best movie I have ever seen. Normally, I would have expected this would have cost about $200,000 to make.

As for the movie, it begins as a manic mess. The cuts are mostly just a blur. Some of them are on screen long enough to actually see. Some aren't. I am not a fan of cuts of less than 2 seconds. The brain cannot comprehend and remember anything shorter so it is a waste of film. A lot of film time was wasted with too-short cuts.

The story comes together after all the short cuts, slowly. After about 30 minutes, you finally have some idea of what the film is about. I prefer having some backstory up front. Yeah, it is old-school-routine but it was routine for a reason, and that reason has not gone away: To involve the viewer. Without it, some people will just hit stop and walk away wondering what they wasted the time and blacklist the writer/producer/director. Not a good thing.

To the good side, the cinematography was good. Lighting and sound were good. This is Hollywood quality production for cheap. Good job. Just the story is a little wonky but we can live through that. Somewhat like Chain Reaction, it is a big chase movie with a small mystery plot to hold the scenes together. And they tip the ending way too early.

The most interesting and original idea is that there is a back door to hell and people can get out. Interesting, if there were such a place.

The worst part of this movie and many others is that the dialog is too soft and the music is too loud. In the theaters, it is probably illegally loud. At home, it means constantly jacking the sound up and down. Really annoying. -1 star for extreme dynamic range.

Summary: Worth a watch. Exceptional for the budget!!

Sometimes death is the end. But sometimes, it is the beginning. In the tradition of "Ghost" and "The Crow" (though very original), "The Other Side" is the story of a man who runs from death in order to solve his own murder and help find his kidnapped girlfriend. But with the police and the reapers after him, does he stand a ghost of a chance?

According to the Internet Movie Database, USC film school graduate Gregg Bishop (who wrote, directed and did pretty much everything for this film) financed "The Other Side" himself with $15,000 (the profits from his film "Voodoo"). One has to comment that this film looks amazing for the budget. Some special effects used far surpass what other, bigger studios have tried to pawn off on their viewers, and the overall acting and story are quite impressive.

I have to say that hell ("the pit") looks cool. Bishop skipped the fire and brimstone and torture route and went straight into the dark, lonely isolation sort of underworld. Not only does this probably correlate better with the Bible, but I think it personally makes for a more terrifying punishment. Confined, alone in darkness for eternity. That's pain.

This film has lots of blood. We're talking "Kill Bill" levels of blood, "Izo" levels of blood. Every gunshot makes a good splatter. And I couldn't be happier about this. While much of the film was more action than horror (the only real "horror" aspects are the fact we have corpses coming back to life), the horror fans will likely appreciate the blood and excessive flesh wounds.

Jaimie Alexander appears in this film, although not as prominently as the cover of the film might imply. Her appearance in this film not only probably helped her career (this predates "Rest Stop" and "Hallowed Ground", as well as her leading roles in "Kyle XY" and that other show), but it helped sell this film. After it was filmed, but before going to DVD is when Jaimie broke through into the mainstream, giving this film an added star it probably hadn't counted on. And with looks that are a cross between Katie Holmes and somebody actually attractive, her presence is a big plus for everyone.

The humor in this was subtle but appreciated. I loved the character of Mally the Adulterer. His womanizing antics were amusing, his one-liners were funny, and I thought the scene where he smokes multiple cigarettes was classic (he's dead -- why not?). There was also a great visual gag involving a neighborhood watch sign that might have been the best thing in the entire movie. I' ma sucker for intelligent and clever humor.

I could make some complaints (aside from the obvious budget constraints). Like, was I really supposed to believe the reapers were 30-50 years old (as reported by the news anchor)? These ages seem a little funny, as I would have put them more in the 25-30 range. In fact, everyone in the film seemed a little young. But this in no way took away from their acting or ability to relate to the audience.

I recommend you check this out to see how to make a film with a limited budget, because I dare you to find anything else on this level. There may be some minor drawbacks, and I thought the twist was a bit hard to accept, but the themes were great and the plot was smooth. Gregg Bishop is a man who knows how to tell a good story and make it look how it should. I eagerly await his next feature film.