The Theta Girl

I'm astonished by this film—I went through my teens as a weird kid in the '80s, and throughout my viewing of "The Theta Girl," absolutely every moment felt convincingly like an '80s cult film, and it kept me utterly transfixed. Its premise, an existential drugs-as-doorways action/horror revenge-thriller exploitation trip, is much more intelligent and novel than I expected on the basis of the trailer, and it's vastly better- crafted and more well-acted (even the supporting cast shone) than anyone has any right to expect from a film that cost less than Cleveland real estate. Big props to all involved on a hell of an accomplishment.

Many of the positive reactions to this film have centered around the surprise that such a satisfying product could come from such a low budget. My surprise was, from the first screening I viewed, from the feeling this movie left in me—the reminder that consciousness has shared aspects, and that we act within that shared consciousness separately based on personal motivations. We even assume we are experiencing the same reality. This movie never felt cheap in a way that detracted from its aesthetic—rather it felt raw, vibrant and genuine as it explored this theme. Experiencing the effects of theta will make you scratch your head for days after. With a fast paced story captured in very real and unembellished, yet dramatic Columbia backdrops, an emotional plot brought to life by well-interpreted, believable characters, and a captivating and energetic soundtrack, The Theta Girl makes it a pleasure to be sucked into thinking about your own experience with reality. How improved or endangered would the world be, were a drug to be able to tap into consciousness like Theta does? Here we find it could be quite sick, and we don't want to look away. Scary, isn't it?

With a delectably original script and idea from David Axe and the artistic intuition of Christopher Bickel, this scrappy flick amounted to a gem of a film. Suffice it to say that despite the film being imperfect to some, I don't feel like picking it apart. I have often heard The Theta Girl referred to as "a little film," due to its budget and origins. It just doesn't feel like one.

I was asked by a friend to go see this and when originally give a gist of what to expect my initial feeling was "Oh criminey. Well at least it'll make for Rifftrax style bait."

After seeing it though I have to say I was very impressed with it. On a budget of about 14 grand, they produced a movie with an interesting and coherent plot, appropriate and well executed special effects, and overall a very well done Grindhouse style movie. I've seen movies 10,000 more expensive that were not fit to wipe the corn-syrup blood from this movie's boots.

If you love the grindhouse genre you will be pleased to find that you get that AND a fully well executed movie. Even if you do not like grindhouse you will still find a reasonably well executed revenge vengeance story.

So the only reason i am writing this is the 20something obvious fake reviews here. you can clearly see that these accounts were only created to comment on it and give it a skyrocket rating. this being said, i take away 1 star from originally 5. the movie itself, well. let's put the good stuff first: the soundtrack was amazing. there's a lot of trippy synth and spacy rock that really pulls the viewer in. the concert at the beginning was expendable but after that the music was almost perfectly chosen. all in all there are plenty of spaced-out scenes you wouldnt expect when reading a summary. there's some late but decent blood and gore that earns the movie another star. acting is alright although none of the characters is really that likeable.

now for what didnt appeal to me: the lenght. it would have really worked out as a 1-hour-and-some flick instead of the 97, sometimes tedious minutes next, the "Main villain", if you can call him that, was just plain bad. his reasons, his acting, his motivation.. it was too low a reason for a killing spree. and finally, the poster art promises stuff the movie can't keep. it is obvious that the artwork tries to associate with 70s grindhouse flicks like the one with the one-eyed girl which name i cannot recall at the moment. it has the revenge alright, but none of the psychological torment that this kind of movie usually is expected to offer. kill some time with your buddies if you got nothing better to do but it's not a "future cult movie" like some of the reviews - the fake ones - like to suggest

Well written, paced and acted, this low budget film is incredibly creative and beautiful. Victoria Elizabeth has the face of a silent film star. This thing needs to be distributed worldwide on all platforms possible. Christopher Bickel is brilliant in his debut as a director. I hope to see more from him in the near future.