Deuces

First of all, it's hard to define in which genre (horror, sci-fi, thriller?) we could insert 'Deuces', because the movie worked all the time with some elements of all these kind of movies but with an absolute incompetence. The story of a woman who suddenly discover that she has a double, a twin 'persona', living by her side and doing odd things - including violent acts and even murder - is not a novelty. In fact, you must remember 'Doppelganger', with Drew Barrymore, another bad movie with the same theme. And that is all the story here, punctuated with some not gripping moments of shooting, cold blood murders and eerie scenes, especially the scenes taken at the Mansfield theater, the place where the doubles seems to appear after twenty years of interval. It's very difficult to be awaken during the movie, because you'll find that the problem here is not just a problem that affects the lady in distress, the journalist Karen Adams (played with a wood faced performance by Tiffany Paige. The movie tells us a story about an evil double creature with double boring style. A complete waste of time.

The problem with this film, it seems to me, is the story. An earlier poster mentioned genre problems, and I think he or she hit the nail right on the head. If you're going to do science fiction (or horror, or mystery, or western, or what have you), you need to know something about the genre. Lip service needs to be paid to the hows and whys. Fantasy doesn't have to be realistic, exactly, but if things work differently in the film world from how they work in our world, we need some kind of explanation. Omitting details like this--at least lip service to them--is dangerous and sloppy.

That said, there's a lot to like in this film. The public location work is good, and the camera work is generally unobtrusive but occasionally impressive. The dialogue is quite good, suggesting that the director/writer has some skill in this area (I'd recommend help with the story itself in future projects though). Some of the acting was very good.

Budgetwise, the producers did a lot with a little, and the next effort might be a breakthrough. This one isn't it, and unfortunately it's the story that gets in the way ... and that's the one thing that's got to be there.

Over all I thought the concept of the movie was good but I felt it to be contrived and non realistic. The best part of the movie was the casting. Tiffany Paige I think did a great job portraying 2 different characters and sides of herself. I would imagine this to be a tough job no matter what kind of movie your in. I think she did a great job and she is easy on the eyes as well. I would like to see more of her on the big screen.

Though Trey Alexander did not get as much screen time his portrayal of playing 2 of the same people was similar to Tiffany Paige's but different enough to compliment.

Overall I thought the movie needed better flow and dialogue but worth the rent to see some up and coming actors. Call me crazy but I love low budget films to see creativity replace dollars and the actors especially Tiffany Paige supplied that to this film.

(2002) The Duplicate/ Deuces SCIENCE-FICTION/ HORROR

Straight to rental and low budget co-produced, written and directed by Michael Winnick that has female reporter, Karen Addams (Tiffany Paige) discovering a room that has the ability create another evil alter ego, after interviewing a man whose supposed to be dead, who of course is going to create a duplicate of herself, and is planing on a take over- there's supposed to be another surprise revelation regarding 'the duplicate room', but to low effect. Great looking poster but as soon as you watch it, then it becomes extremely forgettable because of very poor performances and it's low budget constraints.

I never heard of this movie by any of it assumed names but there was something about the cover artwork that drew me in. There were no recognizable actors or director but judging by the artwork I expected a lesser-known Minority Report, A.I., Time Cop, Total Recall or even a decent Sci-Fi Channel made for TV movie but what a rip-off.

The plot absolutely bared no resemblance to anything that the clever cover insinuated. It was just a typical low budget straight to video repackaged stinker. I couldn't tell you the entire movie because I fell asleep about halfway. Supposedly there was a parallel universe, which at the time existed in the closet of a run down old Movie Theater; the owner who had been involved in a mysterious crime 20 years earlier had broken his silence and decided to talk to a tabloid reporter. The interview only lasted a few minutes before the bank had the police evict and arrest the man but he first managed to slip a key for the mysterious room to the reporter. Before the man could be hauled off the reporter unlocked the padlock and entered the room, which seemed to just contain black walls. Later the reporter would find that she had been sited in other instances doing things she couldn't remember, like entering her apartment and finding a bed filled with S & M paraphernalia, having a boyfriend that she never knew or writing a brilliant story (about the theater owner) that promoted her to star reporter. Later she'd see her parallel evil twin always wearing the exact same clothes, along with the opposites of others. There were no special effects of any kind, no story, no acting because the budget must have all been used on the cover, if it wasn't then they must have had no budget to start with.

I do like Indie movies too and I'm very open minded but understanding and being just plain awful are two things totally different. Friend of the film maker or not, at least be honest. Don't make my mistake, avoid this one at all costs!