Star Time

There's nothing wrong with a depressing horror film. A lot of really good ones are, but when you're as unappealing and downbeat as Star Time is, it becomes a real chore to get through.

The surprising part is that this movie doesn't look like some long lost, crummy straight to video production. It looks fairly glossy with some striking shots and good production design. The acting isn't awful either, but there's nothing very gripping about it and the film never allows us to develop any major feelings for its characters.

You have a wannabe star who is convinced by an agent to start killing people to make himself famous, which sounds like an interesting enough concept, but it's hard to care what happens when the lead character is neither intimidating enough to scare us or pathetic and well developed enough for us to be on his side.

"Star Time" has an interesting concept, going inside the mind of a depressed young man who's delusions result in serial killings. Unfortunately the small budget does not allow the idea to be fully developed. This is really just a three character play, stretched into 84 minutes running time. John P. Ryan as "Sam Bones", the devil inside the mind of the "Baby Face Killer" is excellent. He is always an intimidating presence, and here Ryan does his thing, pushing the right buttons to turn an already disturbed man into a hatchet wielding killer. There is very little blood, some nudity, and even a taste of "black comedy". More a psychological drama than a slasher, fans of John P. Ryan should see this. - MERK

I recently watched Star Time on video at about 3:00 in the morning. I had never heard of it, and I had no idea what to expect. The movie held my attention and I really got into the (somewhat predictable) story. It moves slow, but I couldn't bring myself to turn it off. I thought the acting was good and the lighting was interesting. The script was a little obvious, and stupid at times. But, over all, I found it watchable.

If you really enjoy slasher movies like "Halloween" or "My Bloody Valentine," you'll probably hate this film. It's an arthouse thriller examining mental illness and just happens to feature a mass murderer as the protagonist. You won't find any gory deaths or teenager cliches in this movie.

My only major complaint was that it was so short. 84 minutes just wasn't enough.

Some no-name actor stars in Star Time as a twentysomething guy who becomes suicidal after his favorite television show gets canceled. Yes, you read that right. So then John P. Ryan takes advantage of our vulnerable main character pretending to work for TV and having him kill people. The rest is long, boring, and surprisingly unappealing. Star Time has no rating (unless Unrated counts), but the box rates it EM, meaning Extremely Mature. (But what they don't realize is that mature audiences can't take this junk seriously)

Waste of time and money (thankfully little of both though). One-and-a-half Stars out of Four.