Lake Artifact

This film is very similar to Mine Games (2012) if not almost exactly the same, but this is better acted and the story more interesting. I just feel like it could have been a little longer and explained a little better. This type of storyline is quite complex and it needs to be explained properly.

And I do not agree with the review about the 'token black actor'. I think the actor Thomas Brazzle was fantastic and very funny. It's not often you get good acting in these low budget horrors and I think he was brilliant. The actor Dylan Grunn was also amazing. Two fine actors there.

I do like scenes nowadays where people are walking along train tracks all in bloody clothes. Reminds me of mid-series Walking Dead episodes where the train tracks were all so relevant to the story. But that's how this opens....

And then I suppose we regress, backwards in the story.......

-1 Star for the dumb beer drinking 'dance' scene...what lame music was that anyway??? Derrr............

What was with the weird water bottle drinkage? I've never seen a human drink a bottle of water like that.

Okay so when they find a picture of the group of them that they had not taken YET, is when the hilarity begins.........

-1 Star when the 2 idiots go outside to LOOK for 'the guy' Huh? Poor acting, poor dialogue. Poor story choices......

Then the story gets bizarre, dreams, walking in circles..... lots of confusion. And one female character goes off the rails really for no apparent reason.....

This whole place is a loop TOMMY!!!!!!

+1 Star for when Black dude screams like a girl lol I think the hilarity that was the last few minutes of the movie saves it from the toilet bowl really.

If ever there was a case for why a man wandering thru the woods should always carry a case of BEER with him, this is it.

4/10

Well to say this is utterly nonsensical would be an understatement! I can imagine the confusion from the filmmakers at the meetings with cast and crew having to constantly explain what number loop they are in on any particular day ! The ending, well what can I say, by this stage the viewer would have a brain ache and be on the gin !

Watched this on a complete whim from Tubi, not expecting much. But time paradox/manipulation movies have always been a niche of mine.

The songs used are few and far between, but used to great effect (if you're into that style, granted.) 20 mins in and we've met our cast, some drunken college times have been had, and things are set to take a turn for the strange.

I wont get into details, but felt by the end most of my questions had been answered. The movie contains some elements of other time Paradox notables (Coherence, Triangle, and a dash of Time Crimes), not that I'd view this as a bad thing. And it finds it's own sort of take on it all by the end.

The movie made incredible work of what I imagine is low to no budget. And for what I assume is a cast of unknowns (think I recognized one), I felt they worked adequately, and if anything their less known status made them seem more "real" and authentic (IMO).

I try to limit reviews lately, I am no "professional critic" nor pretend to be, but felt compelled to say those into films like COHERENCE and TRIANGLE may, I hope, enjoy this and entertain adding it to the still rather niche realm of time Paradox movies

7/10 for me, rises above neutral/lukewarm (5) and slight positive (6).

I enjoyed this film from the opening credits right through to the end. It's nicely photographed and well acted. Certainly the story contains some challenges for the viewer - at the start of the film information comes in from all angles, but stay with it and it assembles into a good story.