A disturbed young woman must confront her worst fears when she finds herself trapped alone in a New York City loft during the 2003 blackout.
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Reviews
Best movie of this year hands down!
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
I saw this on NF, and it was labeled as a thriller, but if you expect a thriller, you're going to be very disappointed. It turned out to be a very low-budget drama about a washed up 33 year-old model with some serious mental problems being left alone during the 2003 blackout in NYC. The building and the neighborhood are made to look very sleazy, so even though it was shot in Manhattan, it's probably supposed to be Bushwick, Brooklyn, like it said on her driver's license. It has a very uh, interesting first scene, but after that, it settles into a character study of the lead character. The only good scene after that is the scene where the lead walks home drunk from a bar, and is made fun of by some kids in the neighborhood. She starts yelling curses at them, and they start cracking up in laughter at her. Other than that, it's basically a one woman show till the seemingly tacked on ending. As usual with low budget films, there are the typical phony, ten star reviews by people involved with the film, so that sunk it down another star for my rating.
This is a solid psychological thriller - with more intelligence than scares - but there are some good jumps and it is a well earned slow burn. The premise is that our hero is a woman lives with her girlfriend - the only problem is that she may have some unwillingness to want to be in the relationship - and may be attracted to men. The girlfriend goes out of town - and our hero has some time to self reflect - the only problem is that NYC has a blackout. While she is able to cope initially - she begins to suspect a man is stalking her - and her mind descends into madness - or is she sane and there really is something wrong? Whitney Able really owns this movie - almost the entire film is her reactions - and she really really deserves credit for her work in this film. I cannot remember the last time I watched a movie where the acting held the project together - as the script and the cinematography are both very well done - but this entire projects hinders on the performance of the lead actress and she really - really does an outstanding job.If you want blood and slasher - this may not be for you. This is an intelligent art-house film with a helluva performance - and a very well earned suspenseful final act.
Even the worst films have some redeemable qualities, be it good acting, a solid premise, or even a good musical score. This film has absolutely none of that. Rarely have I seen such inept and completely talent-less film making, but this...this takes the damned cake with the many poor decision are made. First, the premise; What, exactly, is going on here? Is it the story of a Lesbian who suddenly decides that she doesn't like girls anymore? Is it the story of the NYC blackout of 2003? Or is it a story of girl who is mentally ill in some way? None of these questions are really answered. What you will find, however, is a useless lesbian sex scene (denoting some form of abuse or BDSM that is never fully realized), some absolutely horrendous acting by the female lead, and supporting characters that should never be given a role in a film ever again. The movie moves in a plodding pace, barely anything happens, and when it does, it is hidden by the poor use of shadow during the "blackout".I have seen some dreadful movies in my day, and if you look at my review history, I do not shy away from calling a spade a spade, but this film has got to be one of the most inept, embarrassing, and downright insulting excuses for a horror film I have ever seen. Nothing about this film will be remembered, and for good reason; it is a shameful vanity project that shows neither merit nor skill, and you be be lucky to never have seen it. Avoid it like it has an airborne disease and your immune system is compromised.
A young bisexual former-model-turned-yoga-instructor (Whitney Able) is in a deteriorating relationship with her girlfriend (Alexandra Breckenridge). When her girlfriend leaves town in the midst of an unresolved argument, she is left alone in their run-down NYC loft just as the famous blackout of 2003 occurs. She has encounters with a couple of potentially sinister men--a weird, overly friendly neighbor (Brendan Sexton III) and a guy she unsuccessfully tries to pick up at the bar. She may be being stalked and externally threatened in real-life, but judging from some quick-cut flashbacks and scars on her wrists, the worst danger may really be in her own mind. . .I suspect when this movie is more widely released, it may have some trouble finding an audience because it looks enough like a horror movie to chase away a lot of the art crowd, but a lot of horror fans may not appreciate its artier trappings and its slow, subtle and largely psychological approach to horror. This movie falls in the school of horror typified by films like "Repulsion", "The Tenant", "Let's Scare Jessica to Death", and "Session 9". These kind of films are rarely made, especially these days. The last two I remember both came from south of the US border--"Magic, Magic", which I thought was unfairly panned, and "La Casa Muda", which was successful enough to inspire an American remake, but was then overshadowed by the failure of said remake. Personally though, I LOVE this brand of arty, slow-simmering horror. I wish they made more of them, but they are both hard to pull off and a hard-sell once produced.The two actresses here are real revelations, especially Whitney Able. They are both known as typical "hot" actresses who take their clothes off a lot (actually they do that here too in an opening sex scene), but they have both gone through some physical changes for this movie and look quite convincing as a NY lesbian couple. Breckenridge's acting is spot-on in her few early scenes, and after she goes, Able has to really carry this movie herself, perhaps even more than Catherine Deneuve does in "Repulsion", where SHE could fall back on the talents of great director Roman Polanski. I don't mean to oversell either the movie or the performance, but it really works, and it really works because of her. It's also good to see the once-busy East Coast indie actor Brendan Sexton III, who was in "Welcome to the Dollhouse", "Boys Don't Cry", and "Session 9", but largely disappeared after that. This movie was also actually filmed in New York City, and like a lot of genuine NYC-filmed movies, the city itself is an important character.This movie is not an easy sell to anybody, but people that really like "Repulsion"-type movies will definitely appreciate this.