G.P.S.

I don't know a lot about "GPS hunts" or "Geocaching" or whatever it is called, but you don't need any experience with activity as the filmmakers introduce you to it in the opening scenes of the film. The story and dialog were top notch. The excitement builds throughout the movie to the conclusion that catches you off guard.

I Was impressed with the quality of the production. It has a great story that reminded me of "The Contract" with John Cusack and Morgan Freeman with a some of the Blair Witch's frenetic quality thrown it. Scenes in the dark woods make you feel the suspense and fear the characters are experiencing. There are moments of levity that fit the characters and situations and brought real laughs from the audience.

After agreeing to participate in a GPS-based treasure-hunt, a group of friends out in the woods find themselves targeted by a vicious killer with a personal vendetta against one of the members of the group, forcing them to find a way of stopping them before they succumb to his murderous antics.

This was a decidedly unspectacular slasher, without a whole lot to really get worked up over here, with the worst part being that there's not a whole lot of opportunity to really ratchet up the excitement level due to the way it presents itself. With the majority of the first hour taken up by the group's feelings with each other, the game-play and dealing with being out in the woods with something creepy lurking around the fringes of everything without doing anything about it, the film is just barely watchable during this half since we get very little indication we're watching a slasher, and it's pretty boring before it switches over in the last act with some decent stalking, a few decidedly-fun kills and the payoff to the half-hearted build-up being fine if drawn-out somewhat, but overall this one just isn't all that great.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Violence and Nudity.

In my line of work I see a lot of movies, and I see way too many Indies. Most I can't finish. GPS, thankfully wasn't one of them. This movie breaks the mold and strives to be more. It is what a true Indie should be. It's filled with many wide open beautiful landscapes, lots of interesting and good looking faces, and a compelling hook that keeps you invested to the very end. In addition to helicopter shots and stunts, the movie has solid performances. The five leads are enjoyable, but Paul Proios and Danielle Renee really steal the show. I'm reminded of the Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smiths of the world, who made big movies with small budgets.

An indie horror/thriller that uses the concept of treasure hunting with GPS units. The premise is interesting: Instead of the expected money, the hiking group finds a buried coffin with scary Polaroid photos and plea for help. It's who-dunnit movie that's more silly than LOL funny, but the light-heartedness makes it fun. Except for one scene, it's pretty mild violence and not very slasher-esque even though the setup feels like maybe it should have been a slasher film.

I saw this on DVD, which means I got to see the Behind the Scenes Bonus Features that go in depth into the making of this movie. There are more than 2 hours of special features.I didn't intend to watch them all, but they pulled me in so much I ended up watching most of them. After seeing those, I have a real appreciation of what the filmmakers went through to get their first feature made on a tiny budget, so I give them a '7.'

The movie itself is really fun, but it's not flawless. It had me laughing out loud at a couple of the funny characters, and there were some very suspenseful scenes in the second half of the movie. I think the biggest problem is that the suspense doesn't really start up until halfway through. The first half almost plays like a comedy, the second half like a thriller. If you know that going in, you can like it anyway. But it is a little disconcerting to the viewer as the tone changes dramatically at the midway point.

I'm glad they embellished GPS treasure hunting (or geocaching) to make it highly competitive, otherwise it wouldn't have been exciting. People are literally racing each other to get to the next hidden cache. There are some beautiful locations and some cool stunts. Overall, a really good first effort, and from what the director, producer, etc. said in the bonus features, it's obvious they learned a lot in the process to take with them to their next movie.