A group of musicians set up their own little studio in an old private-school with a history. They struggle to understand as unexplained happenings turn to horrors.

This flick surprised me on several points. I really wanted to like it, and as it began I worried I wouldn't. It's very surreal, it's the definition of surreal at times. Sometimes I like that and sometimes I don't. I think anytime someone takes a chance on not giving us what we expect they're taking that risk. Some people aren't going to get it, and some people aren't going to try. Is it better than just cranking out a formula we've seen a hundred times before? I think it is, I definitely think it should be, but some people are going to wonder where the predictable ending went.

While the characters are being bombarded with each unexplainable horror, so are we. Like them, we're trying to figure it out. I was told that I was going to be wrong, again, just like the characters in the movie. Even knowing that, I was tricked, there are lots of "hints" that are deliberately misleading, they made me underestimate the plot. One example, I was expecting that most hated of all plot devices, the enchanted, evil object, then when that didn't pan out, I was again again made to think I understood what I didn't. After that I just said screw it and stopped trying to understand and just sat back to enjoy the beautiful nightmarish images that this movie is overflowing with.

There is really some sweet scenes going on in this flick. There were so many great variations of evil that I'm surprised the filmmakers didn't save some of them for other movies. A Hollywood production company would have filmed three or four flicks just on the strength of the monsters roaming around in this one. I loved the variety, I loved the feeling of getting more than I demand, the straitjacket guy was enough to make me happy. When you see crawling guy, bleeding guy, sneaking guy, hands guy and sheet guy, you'll understand what the hell I'm talking about. This flick is chock-full of creeps, the shadows sneaking around are cooler than half the crap I've been fed.

For me this was the real strength of the movie. You show me some good, disturbing, creepy ass guys jerking around unnaturally and killing people, and I'm more than halfway there. For me it's always about the storyline and the scenes that are going to haunt me when I'm walking the dog late at night.

The amazing thing about these scenes is this flick was made for pennies compared to the worst of Hollywood flicks, but I never saw that in the effects. It really shows that having good ideas and filming them smartly can let you do a lot more than a team of experts can sometimes. What, no CGI transformations or monsters made of swirling darkness? What ever will we do?

What we'll do is see a bad guy wrapped in a sheet with blood seeping out of his mouth and say, "Holy fuck, that's creepy!" Because it is. I was tempted as hell to make a 3 second clip just to post it here, but decided if you were too good to watch the movie you didn't deserve it. Money just don't buy good horror, horror isn't for sale, it takes vision.

Another big strength of the film is how we're led over and over to underestimate it. People will watch this and think they see where it's going, then be surprised when they're wrong. It's a good idea, especially in horror. We're used to the same basic plots, if it's done well we let it go and enjoy the ride. Seeing someone exploit that and use it against us is pretty damned ambitious.

Sure, there are some weaknesses. The acting isn't all that impressive, but I've seen a whole lot worse. It's just on the other side of Clerks, some of it sounded like it was being read. Still, it's easy to get past that once you get more interested in what's going on, and this isn't a dialog-driven movie, although there was a couple smart-ass remarks I enjoyed. While most the actor's lines seem a little flat, the main characters always seems too intense in the early part of the movie, but that stops being an issue when the situation gets intense. Now that I've seen the ending I started to wonder if that may've been planned all along, it could be justified that way.

That's really the only complaint I could come up with. Just like the horror scenes and nightmares escalated as the film went on, so did my opinion of it. Maybe you'd rather see really good actors in a bad flick, that's not for me, though. Give me a group filled with ideas and enthusiasm over a million-dollar darkness monster any night.

6.5 out of 10 evil hands under the bed

This movie was pretty good. The acting was fucking horrible though, for the most part. The worst I've seen in a long time.

There was not alot of character development either. Two or three of the main characters were non value-added and were merely demon fodder. I can offer no distinction between the two girls in the movie. They both talked like robots and had nothing interesting to say.

Sometimes the logic was a little sketchy, which could possibly have been explained by the ending. Having said that, a twist ending as such should not be a catch-all black hole for all the logical fallacies in a movie.

The storyline was pretty good. The cars missing their engines was off the hook! Talk about an escape buzzkill. The movie did seem to be a little long though.

The movie reminded me of the later Hellraisers, in its development. The atmosphere was great and the music added to the creepiness. It was dark alot of the time, and you were just waiting for something spooky to happen.

The gore was good. A couple good kills. The demons looked great and there appeared to be a bunch of them.

Like Nflames, I was also slightly irked by the "nothing happens in the library" quote. Not only do face-eating tarantulas reside there, it is often one of the more spookier rooms in a building.

Overall, I liked this movie. It was dark and gloomy and had an unpredictable ending. The atrocious acting took away from it some. I give it 2.50 out of 5 "air ducts that humans can crawl through". A classic Hollywood staple.

Having just finished this movie, all I can say is WOW! I will say without hesitation that anyone who watches this will be smacked upside the head HARD by the ending that's impossible to see coming. I read Horrorist's review and was thinking "Ha, that's what you think!" I was constantly thinking to myself that I had it figured out and I knew exactly how it was going to end. Nope, I couldn't have been more wrong.

Much like Horrorist, I was very eager to get my grubby little hands on this film and I sooo badly wanted to like it, but with expectations like that I’m usually let down, and it’s either readily apparent the movie is going to be pure shit, or we’re lulled into a sense of “it’s not so bad” before it turns to utter shit. I have seen my share of independent horror films and I was quickly left with the impression that this one wasn’t going to be too bad. The acting could use a little more finesse, but it’s not awful by indie horror standards by any means.

There are visuals in this flick that are downright spine-tingling CREEPY. The unpiloted squeaky tricycle (Remember Damien’s trike in the Omen?) was creepy. All of the creatures, that’s right, every single one was pretty creepy, with my personal favorite being the head-shaking bloody straight jacketed axe wielding freaks (although naked carved-up, bloody-mouthed guy was pretty disturbing as well).

Writer/Director Thomas also did a great job creating isolation, he’s done his horror homework and creatively finds a way to make sure that the hapless victims aren’t just going to walk away or call in the cavalry when the going gets tough.

The few bitches that I have are minor and nitpicky at best: Shapiro, the camouflaged skirt wearing guy shows absolutely NO emotion, his catatonic performance was mildly annoying. All of the talent in this movie needed to show a little more emotion (had I seen what they were seeing I’d have cried, shrieked and run away like a little girl) One point of mention though is that Thomas’ character Davis does do pissed off very well!

One other thing that bugged me is when Davis heads to the library and says “Nothing ever happens in a library.” Hasn’t he ever seen Fulci’s The Beyond? People get their faces eaten by killer tarantulas in the library you fool!

Ultimately a great independent horror movie! Plenty of gore that’s very well done, good original story, creative kills, and more creepy monsters than you could shake a bloody axe at. Keep an eye out for it, it's a blast! You'll NEVER know where Thomas got the title until the very end. Recommended!

3.75 out of 5 Bleeding cell phones