angel_i13 The AHHCTING! It's awful! But everything else - besides the low, low budget - is really great. I hope the director got paid well, at least, because it seems to me he must have worked pretty hard on this. The writing is just OK - that doesn't help - concept is great as is the execution.I really want to care about these people but then they start AHHCTING! again and I'm all "didn't I see him in that ad for Nescafe?" and then the screaming comes back and I remember to watch the movie. Once I do that and calm myself with the fact that, at least the actors LOOK right for their parts, and really just pay attention to the movie as a whole it's pretty good, in fact.And, as someone else mentioned - I'd call it a Thriller or Mystery before I called it Sci-Fi any day. Or I might say: SPOILER: "Surprise! It's Sci-Fi!" If that could be a label.

cairinec Richard Boddington has set the bar a little higher for independent movie makers with his first feature film, Dark Reprieve. This movie is a creepy thriller with numerous plot twists and turns that kept me guessing right until the end. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm still confused!Though this film is definitely not my genre of choice, I still found a lot to admire. The production values are much higher than I'd expect from a lower-budget film. The cinematography is impressive and the editing is flawless. Even the soundtrack has been well chosen to increase suspense. My only criticism is the weak acting by his two leads. I found them distracting, as they weren't up to the standard of the production. I look forward to seeing what Boddington can do with a decent budget.

Koko Ko I guess this movie is make with a tight budget. The beginning was confusing and i hate the way they keep giving flashbacks or sudden scenes changes which is disturbing. There is not much element or storyline either to the movie. I could not understand the link of each scenes till the ending. They are like completely different. The monster in the movies look dumb instead of really frightening. I almost fell asleep watching the movie. The actors performance are average and at times not convincing. The only thing i like is the ending part. It has quite a twist to it. Other than that, as a viewer, i felt its absolutely disappointing to watch.

hanfuzzy I saw this film at a local film-fest sponsored screening last night. I was prepared to be disappointed, as I was by the last low-budget locally-filmed 'scary' movie I saw in the same situation, but was instead pleasantly surprised. This film has fairly good acting & production values for something in this budget range. Most significantly, the director was willing to cut it down to 80 minutes to maintain pacing which shows a commitment to art over ego. The flashlight-lit scenes were particularly well done, compared to many scenes which I find too dark even in some Hollywood big-budget films, and the more active scenes didn't suffer from the ubiquitous modern trend of too-rapid cutting, although there was a bit too much use of 'recycled' shots and the forward-and-back jumps (non-linear plot) were sometimes unnecessarily confusing. The overall plot and theme, however, were fairly good and not predictable as one would usually see in this style of production. In fact, the final twist (and you know one will be coming) is essentially unpredictable yet not contrived.The creepiness and scares build from setting (mostly shot on location in a real abandoned century-old jail) and plot, and there is little gore to speak of, unlike many films in this genre. This is a positive aspect, as the director is relying on story-telling instead of visceral or cringe-inducing effects. The extensive use of this location is one of the highlights of the film.Overall I give it a only 6 out of 10 mainly because of the budget limitations. The score isn't bad, but I found the sound affects a bit lacking. The new, unknown actors give a good first feature film effort, and the plot and writing are very evocative of better Twilight Zone episodes.