Respire

I had been wanting to see this ever since I heard about it a couple years ago (and I liked the director's last film a lot) and I can say that I enjoyed it...for the most part. A dying woman gets a new lease on life when she inhales from a mysterious vial but then she starts having weird visions and murderous tendencies. Sounds pretty simple, right? If that's all the movie was about, I think this would totally rock. As it is it only sorta rocks. There's an awful lot of back story that needs to be told for you to understand what's going on. That's okay but it does make the middle drag. The opening credit sequence which follows a box through all of the decades is really, really well done and the last half hour, once it actually becomes a horror is entertaining as well. For the acting, the two leads are good. The rest of the cast...eh, not so much. I would say that if you go into it knowing that the middle part drags but will pay off later on (there's a pretty cool scene with a tied-up girl where you would swear that the actress is genuinely terrified of what's off-screen), then you might enjoy it a little more. Overall, I'd recommend it but only if you're not looking for a super scary horror and you're willing to pay attention the whole time. By the way, if they released a soundtrack, I'd buy it. Some of the songs were really good.

Respire took me back to my youth when my brother would take us to the drive in movie. We would watch the simple mystery/horror through hands pressed against our faces to protect us from the boogie man. But that is about as far as this movie got for me, memories of getting scared as a kid. Which usually didn't take much effort in a horror movie.

As an adult however I had to constantly remind myself that there wasn't a lot of money thrown at this film which may be why some of the script gets very "home movieish" at times. I shouldn't have had to think of excuses for stiff dialogue. But the plot twists are fun to watch as they are revealed just as all the red corn syrup is fun to watch squirting out of wounds.

Compared to more widely released films, this one passes the test of a good scary tween/teen movie but fails to live up to the standards set by Halloween, Saw, Nightmare on Elm Street and others. I guess I am stuffy that way.

But graded simply on its own merit, it is worth including into your teenager's weekend slumber party. Providing you don't mind some on again / off again violence (and the required red corn syrup).

Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed. You might actually enjoy it.

Just watched this on Amazon Prime. I have to say I've been very disappointed with most of the Amazon Prime horror movies. This was a very pleasant surprise. Excellent cast; good plot development; dialogue, sound, camera angle and action all very good. The characters were all believable and interesting and intelligent. A lot of horror and sci-fi movies on Amazon suffer from dull characters, predictable and boring plots, bad camera and lighting, awful dialogue and lousy scripts. This movie was a combination of mystery, horror, suspense and sci-fi. Ms. Teague led the cast in a fine performance and I look forward to seeing her in more films. There were a few sub plots and more than a few plot twists. Not a lot of mindless gore. It reminded me at one point of "Needful Things". I don't want to spoil it for you by saying anything more so I'll just finish by saying that this movie is a winner.

Exceptionally well thought through and cleverly crafted little low budget exploitation piece that transcends it's genre beautifully.

Brilliant performance from Tracy Teague as the film's heroine. It's also refreshing to see the indies casting a "woman of a certain age" in the lead. Kudos to the producers.

Excellently paced,loads of intrigue and very well directed. David Cross is clearly going to be a genre talent to keep an eye on.

From a technical standpoint the opening sequence is breathtaking for such a low budget picture, stunningly put together and once again adding so much scope for something that could have been so much smaller.

I'm sure Hollywood will come á calling for this talented lot - let's just hope they don't sell out to the mainstream just yet.

Check it out you won't regret it. An Excellent eight.

I really enjoyed this film. Respire has a great mix of mystery, suspense and horror. There are some very memorable scenes with outstanding atmosphere. The director did a great job of covering the large scope of the film without the large budget. There are some great moments in Respire that caused me to jumped from my chair. On the negative, a few lines in the script felt a bit "wordy" as if the actors are trying to explain too much to the audience. I also feel some of the character's actions are a little too predictable, but overall the film is more surprising than many big budget Hollywood movies. I am looking forward to checking out some of David Cross's other films. I say go ahead throw Respire in the DVD player late one night, sit back, and enjoy the movie.