Tom Ryan wrote, directed and starred in 2014's "Faces," an extremely low budget murder slasher film that showed promise, but I apparently saw a different film than the other reviewers who lovingly gave it 9s and 10s.
Ryan plays Frank, a down on his luck psychopath who seems to kill without reason. We don't get a whole lot of exposition or backstory, so I guess stress? Anyway, every time Frank murders someone, his victim's disembodied, ghostly faces end up on his living room wall and talk to him. He grows increasingly crazy until we reach a dull and unimaginative non-conclusion.
Does this sound like a comedy-horror to you? It did to me, and frankly, had it been done that way considering the budget, this probably would have been a more enjoyable film. With a really nice budget, it could have worked as a serious film. But for me, I gave it a 5 because I appreciated what it was going for, but just had trouble taking it seriously.
Acting-wise-with a few exceptions-it was overall pretty well acted, especially Ryan. His direction really wasn't bad. Special effects were okay except "the wall." And while I don't hold budget against a film, I do hold something as crucial as audio to be something that can't be overlooked. One reviewer wrote that they had to give up early on, and I was close to it myself, but I wanted to try and see if the 9s and 10s were at all warranted. The audio was so poor it was almost excruciating, and because the levels were too low and echoey, you had to turn up the volume to hear the conversations, but that made it even worse. There's just no excuse. I can even look past the absurdity of the faces cut into drywall which moved whenever the faces spoke. I can even forgive the poor quality of the cinematography and the difficulty of seeing anything at night or inside. But that audio...Ryan, dude.
I do think Tom Ryan has talent and promise. But "Faces" was not overwhelming to me. It's worth one watch if you can tolerate the poor audio.
