Resolution

A deeply oddball, and pretty entertaining low budget mash-up of character study, humor, and metaphysical horror. It's not like anything you've seen before, but it achieves that effect by taking a LOT of elements you've seen before, and having fun combining them in novel ways.

A young guy - Michael - who seems to have his life pretty together goes out to try and save his depressed, meth-head, gun loving friend – Chris – who is living alone in the middle of the woods. The unanswered question of who took the video of this Chris acting so crazy sets the tone for this film full of unexplained weirdness that creates a generally tense and creepy atmosphere despite any clear resolution to many of the questions (that's only one of several meanings the pun-laden title seems to have).

Much of the film is the relationship between these two men, and how Chris reacts to being forced to go cold turkey after Michael handcuffs him to a wall pipe. Both the acting and dialogue wavers between fun, honest, touching and a touch amateurish. Chris has one of the easier, least believable sudden withdrawals from serious addition I can remember seeing on film. But this film doesn't seem too worried about being real. It seems far more interested in being entertaining and leaving you wondering just what things mean; that old, creepy photo, the escapee from a local loony bin who knocks on the window at night, the fact that they are on Indian lands with a bad history. Do these things mean anything? Or do we just assume they do from a lifetime of horror and suspense films? The film-makers aren't always saying, they want us to wonder for ourselves… and to smile while we shiver just a bit. I'll be curious to watch this again. It seems like a repeat viewing will either reveal its shallowness or uncover hidden depths

Michael (Peter Cilella) is committed to getting his best friend Chris (Vinny Curran) to sober up and get his life back on track. But what begins as an attempt to save his friend's life quickly takes an unexpected turn as the two friends confront personal demons, the consequences of past actions, and forces beyond their control. Expertly balancing dark humor with genuine thrills and unexpected pathos, Resolution is an utterly unique cinematic experience that defies genre classification.

Resolution was an utterly mind-blowing experience that has a fantastic twist to the horror genre. To be honest it's more of a trippy suspense/drama with quaint and small horror elements thrown in the mix. The story is completely involving with two lead characters that you can connect to, making the mysterious and creepy going ons all the more effective. The film starts off pretty slow with an anti climatic ending, and doesn't have that much if any action, but the unique outcome, engaging and riveting characters and plot twist, make the viewing semi worth it.

The performances from Vinny Curran and Peter Cilella were breakthrough and organic and you believe their story and friendship. Peter plays Michael Danube, a soon to be dad who decides to take one last trip to visit and help his drug addicted friend Chris Daniels played by Vinny, who isolated himself in a remote shack. Michael decides to show some tough love when Chris refuses to go to rehab and soon after handcuffs Chris to a metal bar to force him to detoxify. Michael starts to then experience strange and unexplained happenings when he discovers some reel playback footage. From there on it's a trippy ride and it's the type of film that you probably need multiple viewings to figure it all out, but the scenario is so refreshing from the norm that this genre usually brings us.

Director, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have crafted a one of a kind, surreal suspense flick. A real breakthrough effort from them that will have you scratching your head, spooked and anxious to see how it will turn out. Unfortunately the conclusion just didn't really pay off for me and just ended way too soon just when things started to get really good. For first time directors though, I think they are exciting and brilliant new talent and can't wait to see what they have in store for us next.

Overall, Resolution was different, freaky and has two likable leads and I was intrigue through most of it but the ending just didn't sit well with me. Recommended if you enjoy films like Cookers, or just want to watch something different from the genre for a change. 6.5 out of 10

Resolution was getting a lot of comparisons to one of my favourite horror films, The Cabin in the Woods. Critics and audiences were calling it unpredictable, genre-bending and unlike anything that we've seen before. The DVD has quotes like, "The movie The Cabin in the Woods should have been." One quote even compares it to Sinister, which I find bizarre given that Sinister didn't get great reviews (not my opinion by the way, I think that Sinister is brilliant) so of course I was very excited to give Resolution a watch. We all know that the majority of modern horror films are tired, so to get something unpredictable is a rarity. Unfortunately, Resolution didn't live up to the hype.

The film has an interesting premise. A man chaining his drug-addicted friend to a pipe in an abandoned cabin, in a bid to make him go cold turkey. Unfortunately, this premise isn't quite enough to sustain a feature length film. The majority of the film is the two characters chatting and arguing, which is fine for 45 minutes. In fact, the most entertaining scenes are between the two thanks to the chemistry of the actors and the funny dialogue, "I met this dog! She's awesome. We're writing a book together!" However, this becomes pretty boring once we hit the one hour mark.

The whole film is just like waiting for something to happen, but nothing really does happen until the last 15 minutes, and even then it's still dull. It's frustrating too because the idea is very clever it's just not done well, in my opinion. The Cabin in the Woods used a similar postmodern meta-narrative however, it was incredibly entertaining throughout, whilst still being intelligent. Resolution is clever, but dull.

A lot of the film is one character walking about and coming across various peculiar encounters. There's a man in a cave, some shifty religious nuts and a mental patient tapping on the cabin's window, however none of these have anything to do with the plot itself. I understand that these are supposed to represent various ways in which the narrative could unfold, but is there any need for this to fill out the majority of the actual film? The Cabin in the Woods played with a similar idea in one short scene in the basement.

If you're after an unpredictable and self-aware horror film, then I'd stick to The Cabin in the Woods or Funny Games. Resolution offers tedium more than anything. It does have a fairly engaging first half, but the second half quickly runs out of steam. I appreciate its ideas, however it ultimately feels flat.

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About 5 minutes in and I went "this weirdly reminds me of "The Endless"... I feel like I have seen this before". Obviously, now I know why. If you haven't seen it yet, watch this and then immediately go watch "The Endless" 2017 right after.

Something about this style of filmmaking and storytelling feels so unique and fresh. A slow pace but still engaging, down to earth characters with natural and relatable dialogue, a spooky atmosphere without relying on jump scares. Stand out performances from both main characters, great acting.

The story was intriguing but I don't know if it made the most sense in the world as a stand alone. They definitely do not spoon feed you an explanation and you have to watch "The Endless" to have a full appreciation for this. So, if you are not planning on watching it, not into a bit of ambiguity or a true low budget independent film... this might not be for you. Otherwise, I would definitely recommend. As a stand alone I give it a 6, but with "The Endless" I give it a 7.

If you're a Benson/Moorhead fan, its best to watch this film first. I watched the duo's latest film 'The Endless' before this film, but the two interlink (although The Endless is not a sequel). They share the same universe, and the characters from 'The Endless' interact with characters from 'Resolution'. It might sound confusing, but I assure you it is not. I did, however, feel 'The Endless' was a huge improvement on this film, and see it more as a remake with a lot more detail, and a much clearer view of what is actually going on. 'Resolution' is much less detailed but and leaves a lot to your imagination, but be warned, this film also has some very freaky moments!