Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Octane, which also goes by the equally ambiguous and stylish title 'Pulse', is a fascinating, frustrating pseudo - horror effort that charges out of the gate in positively wicked fashion, with one of the most suspenseful opening thirds I've seen. It's doesn't keep up that rich, devilishly dark tone for the entire time though, degenerating into muddy clichés upon reaching the final act. It's almost as if it tried so hard to resist genre conventions by throwing bizarre shock tactics into the mix that it stumbles over itself and spills the entire concoction all over the floor. I can forgive it that though, because in a genre full of filmmakers who don't even try, it at least strives to give the story it's own specific brand of unnerving menace, and when it's good, it's really good. Madeleine Stowe is fantastically intense as Senga Wilson, a single mother driving across country through the night with her daughter Natasha (Mischa Barton). There are tricky mother daughter issues which create tension between the two, only intensified by the arrival of a mysterious hitchhiker (Bijou Philips) who entices Natasha with wild tales of the road and unsettled Senga. Then, during a brief pause at a truck stop, Natasha disappears into thin air, propelling Senga into a feverish fit of panic, paranoia and maternal angst. The police are only vaguely interested, and no one else seems to have any clue what happened, save for a strange couple who constantly appear at the sight of accidents. Her only help comes from a tow truck driver named The Recovery Man (Norman Reedus balances comforting and sinister scarily well), who is trawling the night looking for something as well. She's led on a dark odyssey with an unearthly feel, coming across dead ends, red herrings and psychos galore including a vampiric cult leader (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). The film soaks in much of its atmosphere via a score by a group called Orbital that is like nothing on this earth, musically speaking. It's such a weird composition of synth, drums, creepy vocals and droning phenomena it brings any scene to life and gets you to pray you don't get stuck in Senga's situation. I just really wish the film didn't derail and fall apart near the end, because it's got a lot of really strong elements and it would have been to cool to see a consistency to them that it just doesn't sustain. Having said that, it's still worth a look for its unique brand of eeriness.

The "father" really is Satan. When the mother crashes her car into the sign, it read "after a thousand years Satan will be released from his prison". They drink blood. "the father" knows your secrets. The cult members said, the "father" took their pain away, and set them free. In the end when he's blown up to pieces, he didn't die. There are so many hidden references to what is to come, or maybe he's already here. But this movie is trying to tell us. The "father" was making the mother hallucinate throughout the movie, he came to her as that man from the television and put her in a trance. He is Satan and he has the power to manipulate the weak minded. this movie was excellent if you know your history of Satan and how our world and society came to be since ancient sumeria, babylon and Egypt.

If you're not the type of person that likes a film to be too complicated, then don't bother, you'll be able to catch the storyline if you pay pretty good attention, but, there is one plot hole that kind of stuck with me, that being, how did the main villain {the father} know all those things about Senga? That was the only thing that kept running through my head while watching it, otherwise it was a good film with a well done tone, and some creepy moments that might give you the chills if you picture someone actually doing them in real life.Overall, it pulls of the blur between what's real and what's not thing very well, and will hold your interest from start to finish, but I don't recommend it to anyone who doesn't like a movie that confuses them to much.

Ah, the adorable Mrs.Stowe… I sure miss the late 80's/early 90's, back when she was an elite member of the chosen few actresses club (alongside Linda Fiorentino, Lara Flynn Boyle and Sherilyn Fenn) who's every new film became instant priority-viewing on my movies' list. I wonder if she herself regrets the glorious days of "China Moon", "Blink" and "Unlawful Entry" are gone forever, especially now that she has to appear in below par and allegedly 'hip' new horror movies like this dreadfully irritating "Octane". This film is, briefly put, a big fat steaming & smelly pile of utter garbage. The story makes no sense whatsoever, the terribly slow built up atmosphere of mysteriousness leads absolutely nowhere, the "villainous" characters are pathetic & all but menacing and there's a seriously frustrating shortage of gore and sleaze. The ravishing Madeleine Stowe plays the uptight mother of an equally ravishing teenage girl (Mischa Barton) and the two are on a long and nightly homeward car journey. Things heat up when mommy forbids her daughter to go to a music concert and, bang, the girl promptly runs off with a bunch of rebellious teenagers in a giant truck. The fact she wanders off with complete strangers is already quite implausible, especially in this day and age, but the script even gets sillier when the strangers turn out to be members of some sort of bizarre cult. I think it's even hinted that they are a modern type of vampires, but that's never really confirmed. And then it even gets more retarded when literally everyone on the highway appears to be involved in this fiendish organization, including a female police officer and random motor home people in a restaurant. Stephen Volk's screenplay is truly unimaginative, borrowing even elements from 70's chillers like "Race With The Devil", Marcus Adams' direction is totally uninspired (not at all stylish, like some reviews I encountered dare to proclaim) and you know you're in trouble when someone without charisma like Jonathan Rhys Meyers is supposed to play an evil personified type of character referred to as The Father. Give me a break. "Octane" is a pretentious, pitiable and miserable excuse for a thriller, and if you have idea what good film-making is about you'll stay the hell away from it.