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.

We were expecting this to be pretty good but were just blown away by the quality of this film, especially given that it was made for such a ridiculously small amount of money, under $15,000. The story was creative and original and fast-paced, the acting was great, the filming and editing was top notch, and the accompanying musical soundtrack was perfect.

If you get a chance to see The Theta Girl, go. You'll be glad you did.

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to view this fantastic little indie film recently and must say that not only is it possibly the best independent film of 2017 but possible one of the best examples of low budget film making EVER! Filmed with such energy, imagination and flair that its hard to not to fall instantly in love with the film's charms (and shocks - as it has it's share). The film bends and expands across different film genres whilst staying completely cohesive, strutting it's stuff on it's own two feet with ease - at times feeling like a nightmarish acid trip that you are very much a part of. Gripping, fun, offbeat, gory, engrossing, stylish and original. See it!

Of course I had never even heard about this 2017 movie from writer David Axe and director Christopher Bicket prior to stumbling upon the movie here in 2025. And with it being a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to check out what it was.

Writer David Axe put together a very strange and bizarre storyline. I have to say that I was struggling a bit to fathom whether or not there was a coherent red thread throughout the course of the narrative, as it felt very random and disjointed. I was not particularly entertained by the storyline here, but then again, drugs isn't something that I am interested in.

One thing in the movie that made zero sense was the sentence "I can end this, just blink". Uhm, all people blink, so she basically left the guy no choice than to be executed.

My interest in the narrative was starting to wane and slip dramatically around halfway through the movie. I just couldn't find the core essence of the narrative.

The sheer amount of full frontal nudity that was in the movie served absolutely no purpose, and it just sort of dragged the movie down a notch. Had director Christopher Bicket opted to not include the full frontal nudity scenes throughout the movie, it would still have been the same end result movie, and it wouldn't have felt weighed down by pointless sleaze.

I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, and that was actually something that spoke in favor of the movie, as I enjoy watching unfamiliar talents on the screen. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

The effects in the movie were fair, and there were a couple of bloody and gory scenes.

This is not a movie that I will return to watch a second time.

My rating of director Christopher Bicket's 2017 movie "The Theta Girl" lands on a very generous three out of ten stars.