First off, I commend Pat Higgins on having the balls to write, produce and direct his own feature film. For this, and this alone, Mr. Higgins got an extra star. Having said that, I had read a lot of good things about this movie on the net, and despite a promising start, it failed to live up to the expectations and hype that those reviews generated. Unfortunately for all concerned, Higgins seems to have spunked what little funds he obviously did have on a cast and crew who simply fall short of the mark - and by some distance.
Leading lady Amber Moelter's performance is hit-and-miss and she appears to have been cast for no other reason that the fact that she's American but her performance is nowhere near as bad as her "leading man" Tom Wontner - a truly wooden turn from someone who seemingly has a very high opinion of himself. Check out his official website for proof. The fact he calls himself "Tom Wontner - Actor" on his website - yes, I was sad enough to check out these bozos if only to see if they were real or not - could be worthy of prosecution under the trades description act. Likewise Hannah Speller - awful - and Oli Wilkinson - another hit-and-miss performance.
On the plus side, Sam Burke is terrific and Richard Collins rocks as the bad guy while some of the minor players are quite impressive, but it's not enough. Add to this the poor quality of sound, poor cinematography, a lack of props, some really crap special effects and a set that has been lifted out of an old folks home and you get the picture.
To end on a positive, the script was witty and the idea was neat. Just a shame that the execution was so lousy. Next time, steer clear of the CGI guys.
