Behind Your Eyes

Just rented this movie last night looking for a good scare. Based on the description for this movie - "Young perfect couple is kidnapped and tormented until secrets are revealed that will change their lives forever" I thought "sounds interesting". Looking at the cover I saw that it won an award at the Las Vegas Film Festival for independent films. I thought it might be worth having a look.

Wrong!

This convoluted story had so many flaws I don't know where to begin. -The women who were killed/tortured looked almost identical. Found myself going back and forth to make sure the same woman wasn't getting killed/tortured over and over. -The acting was sub-par. There was no chemistry between the leads especially when emotions were supposed to be running high. All the characters were one dimensional. -Storyline was so confusing I lost track and much less didn't care who survived. -Poor soundtrack when there was one.

One thing about a good horror/suspense movie for me is that there should be some tension being felt by the characters. This movie had no tension. The director did not try to build any and had no sense of what it takes to build a good scary scene. There was so little emotion explored on the screen it kept me unattached to the movie.

Not sure what the other movies were like during the LVFF, that this one won an award, but I will stay away from other Indie films with that award certification from now on.

The independent film community is ready to demand some attention. Clint Lien (Director) and Daniel Fanaberia (Writer) prove this with their thriller BEHIND YOUR EYES.

The story is captivating, as Fanaberia takes viewers on a contorted thrill ride, filled with action, suspense, twists, and even a few laughs.

Tom Sandoval, who plays Steven, has some big things in store for him! He is absolutely compelling to watch. His passion on screen is magnetic, and I am excited to see what he brings to the table in the future... because Hollywood isn't done with him yet!

Fanaberia also lends his talent to the character of Mark Balentine for some on screen fun. He is extremely talented, and his versatility is more than apparent in this film.

Another fresh talent, Kristen Doute (who plays Katie Richter), is simply radiant. This is another name to watch in the film world! She possesses an incredible depth (and strength) that translates beautifully to film.

The quality of this film is far superior to most indie thrillers. They made this film with care, and it shows. Film lovers should really take the time out to appreciate all of the hard work that it takes to make an independent film, such as this one. BEHIND YOUR EYES proves that thrillers are no longer reserved for big budget Hollywood studios!

I screen movies for a local film festival, and attend several festivals a year, and I honestly have not seen a worse film. I saw this at the Las Vegas Film Festival. I can't complain about the camera work or scoring, but the acting and dialog were terrible. It was obvious who the villain was immediately just by his actions, so to me there were no plot twists. I felt no empathy with any of the characters because they were so one dimensional. The Mother and Father characters were so over-acted that they became funny. There were people laughing in the audience, and it is NOT a funny movie. It reminded me of The Room - a movie made in all sincerity to be serious, and actually becomes funny because it is done so badly.

I saw this movie at the LVFF and was glued to the screen as soon as the action kicked, around 8 minutes into the film. Before I knew it, I was puzzle solving and I quickly realized I had never seen a film like this before. There are laughs, a few scares and very strong acting from the majority of the cast. I read the above review and am not quite sure what her deal is but I'll tell you this; it's a freshly unique, well shot and acted thriller that does not take itself too seriously and is not afraid to challenge the status quo. I also had a film in the festival and was not surprised at all that BEHIND YOUR EYES took home the big prize. It looks like a studio movie and was by far the most entertaining of the entire weekend.

I won't say more so you can enjoy the plot twists yourself.

I can only describe this as brilliant, spelt as C R A P... The most entertaining part of it was the father's poetic lines in between it all. This film can only be matched to films such as Eden Lake and Wolf Creek, which in my opinion are brilliant exams of terrible films. The script was predictable throughout, the eventual outcome was foreseeable; it is a film that makes you want to scream at the television because of how ridiculous it is, but yet you don't turn it off because it's somewhat of a fatal fascination. For acting ability, there will certainly be no Oscars. I strongly suspect that a better film could be put together by amateurs. I wouldn't recommend this film at all.