jackieblue402

I fell in love with the story Heaven's Neighors quite a while ago. So naturally I kept my eyes open for anything Jeff Kennedy is associated with. Heaven's was a beautifully crafted story that tugged at your heart and stayed with you, rumbling around in the back of your mind for weeks. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for Ghost Town. The plot and characters are incredibly hard to follow. The storyline suffers from horrible editing. And it lacked that special touch that brought you in to the world that was created through the lens. To be honest, Heaven's, according to the credits was written and directed by Kennedy. And on Ghost Town he was only co-director. Dean Teaster/West was the other co-director as well as being involved in the story as well as producing. So I cannot say for certain how much of an impact Kennedy had on the movie, but judging by the end product it wasn't much. If Heaven's Neighbors is an example of his film making fingerprint, then Ghost Town was clearly not in his hands.

I discovered this wonderful film a few weeks ago at indieflix.com. Being a film major I keep on the lookout for movies that are slightly out of the mainstream. Usually this means sitting through atrocious horror films that lack style, substance, or for that matter, a plot. It was extremely refreshing to finally unearth an indie that does quite well in all three of these areas. I decide to write a paper for class on the Human condition as expressed in Heaven's Neighbors. My professor was so intrigued with my paper (I got at 3.8!) that he wanted me to show the film to the whole class. He thought it might incite a good discussion. He was right! Overall, the response was extremely favorable. It was interesting to note that females overwhelmingly loved this movie. The male students where split between those who thought it was good, but not great, and one or two who didn't like it at all. This sparked a quite a debate! Especially when it was noted that those who didn't like it were all "jocks" whose taste in films runs more toward action films like Terminator and Armageddon. And those that loved the film said that it was precisely because it wasn't "action laden with over the top special effects, that they enjoyed it so much. They noted the emphasis on story and the insights on life were the best part about Heaven's Neighbors. Judging by the comments here I see that many others feel the same way. Those of us who love the film are going to expand out research. I, for one, have found deeper levels after repeated viewings. Maybe it's fodder for a term paper? If I could only figure out what Dr. Boreas is all about? What's the real motivation for suicide? What does his name mean?