(Director/screenwriter: Ted Nicolaou)
Review
A city-loft, twenty-something couple (Amber and Ben) take in a sexy roommate, Serena, whose stack of cash (“nine months’ rent”) silences their request for her references. Serena is a Goth-dark charmer who deals in (supposedly) healing stones and weird Wicca-esque rituals. It’s not long before Amber and Ben start having disturbing sex dreams (that might not be dreams) about her, night visions where she has the face of a demon. Then a strange man in a duster (Elias Lambe) appears on the street outside their warehouse-district flat. It seems he’s stalking Serena. Who’s a villain here─Elias or Serena?
This brightly lit, hour-long, direct-to-video, demon-themed thriller is (mostly) story-solid and well-directed, a by-the-numbers flick that lacks suspense, sports solid FX and mostly solid performances (to be fair, the actors aren’t given much to work with, given the film’s screenplay and length). There’s welcome humor in one scene involving Amber and the statue, one that recalls a scene in Steven Spielberg’s 1981 film RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
Kelly Curran played Amber, blonde, schoolgirl-haircut illustrator who slowly realizes that Serena’s exotic habits may not be holistic. Lorin Doctor played Serena, a dark, bold seductress. Cole Pendery played mellow stoner/rock musician Ben, whose character is especially dumb at important moments. Austin James Parker played the not-given-much-to-do Elias Lambe.
I watched this because I saw Nicolaou’s name attached to it─Nicolaou directed the tightly written and directed, impressive-for-its-budget SUBSPECIES tetralogy (the fifth film is in pre-production). As far as direction, production and writing goes, DON’T is tight like his SUBSPECIES work─unlike those vampire films, it’s a relatively generic experience, albeit one with professional, impressive-for-its-budget and a notable filmmaker at its helm.
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