Seconds Apart Review

[Mr.HoRrOr]

Plot:Judging by their privileged lifestyles, one would never guess that Seth and Jonah are murderous twins who share an evil kinship. Damned from the moment of their births, the brothers possess a gruesome talent for telekinesis - a power they use in the most horrific ways imaginable. As fellow students meet gory fates, the local law enforcement begins to suspect the twins' connection to the depraved murders. What started as a jealous rage escalates into a supernatural showdown - pitting brother against brother, evil against evil.










Cast:
Orlando Jones
Samantha Droke
David Jensen
Louis Herthum
Gary Entin
James DuMont
Edmund Entin












My Thoughts:Interesting. But acting drags it down.












Review:"Seconds Apart" is another entry into After Dark Films "Originals" series of movies. The film begins when a group of young people are at a party. And within that party, a group of jock-types are sitting around a table. Laughing it up. Soon, someone approaches the boys. And moments later, they're playing Russian Roulette. But the strange thing is, when someone "loses"...literally.

The boys don't seem to care that much. Soon, all of them wind up dead. And a local detective played by Orlando Jones (Primeval), comes in to investigate the case. Which at that point is looking like a homicide. Soon, the film introduces us to two twins, Seth and Jonah. Who both wield the power of telekenesis. And who aren't very fond of the local "in crowd" types. But mostly, they use people to conduct an experiment. And experiment in seeing how they react emotionally to committing murder.

In turn, they were responsible for the earlier demise of the party jocks. But...is everything with Seth and Jonah EXACTLY, as it seems? "Seconds Apart" manages to do one thing very well from the very start. Which is design a weird, odd, and complex movie about twins. You don't really see many horror films these days about evil twins. Sometimes, the twin plot device, is thrown in for suspense thrillers where some crazy person wants to pin murders or crimes on his or her "good twin". But in this movie, both twins can be described as evil. But moreso sociopathic and crafty than anything.

The film doesn't craft a very exciting or intense story. "Seconds Apart" works more in pieces and bits. Little by little, unfolding the story. And giving the viewer new parts to work with and piece together what is happening along the way. Thus, the movie makes sure you can never skip ahead, and figure things out beforehand. It doesn't telegraph forthcoming events very often if any. I liked that. I hate to watch a movie that I know, or have a major suspicion how it'll all end. But at the same time, its weakness is its characters.

Jonah and Seth are eerie and creepy to watch on screen as these cold, and calculating twins. But eventually, their act gets a bit stale. It's hard for the actors to carry too many scenes on their own. Orlando Jones adds some spark to the film, as an often sarcastic detective trying to piece together the earlier murder. As well as a few other deaths at the hands of the twins. Soon, he catches on to what is or might be happening with Jonah and Seth. But the movie still fails to pick up any steam at that point. I kept waiting for the movie to kick into high gear. But it never did.

It moves slow and methodically, which is good for a story and performance driven horror movie. But at some point, you have to crank things up when events are actually beginning to unfold. And things are "happening". But that's not to say that the story isn't without merit. Jonah and Seth have an easy time hiding their crimes. Especially with their telekenesis abilities. And the fact they are very careful overall to hide their "hobby". But their parents have their own suspicions.

But that is a story within itself, which unfolds later on in the movie. Where some reveals are made about the parents. Which all link and connect back to Seth and Jonah's strange abilities. However, Seth and Jonah do not go untouched in this movie. When one of them meets a new girl at school. And becomes quite fond of her, things begin to slowly unravel for the two of them. And the unraveling doesn't just affect their twin brother relationship. But it also begins to threaten their so-called, "Project".

And the secrets they're keeping from the locals as well. Thus, act three is built up to a nice little boil. With all of these moving parts involved. As Joneses detective character inches close and closer to Seth and Jonah's secret. And Seth and Jonah begin to try and settle their own brotherly issues. Which have been caused by the new girl who one of the brothers has fallen pretty hard for. The third act also throws in a nice little twist about the relationship between Seth and Jonah.

Which on the surface, looks easy to pin down. But in the end, is very different from what it starts out as. But "Seconds Apart" should've been far more exciting before it reached the later parts of its third act. The movie is character driven, which is an issue when the acting talent is not that great. And the characters are not written to be very deep or intriguing to watch. I felt a lot of these characters were lacking "oomph".

While the film had mapped out a way to unfold and play out, it still needed some more flashy characters to shore up the more docile and soft-spoken ones. In the end though, "Seconds Apart", although hurt by a lack of intensity, still manages to win out when it's all said and done. Because it attempted to be a different kind of horror movie. A feat in which it succeeded at doing.










Positives:Jonah and Seth made for good villains. Orlando Jones detective character was a step above the average horror film detective in brains and character traits. He also added some much-needed humor and sarcasm to the movie. The idea for the film was a refreshing attempt at doing something new with indie horror, story-wise. The ending was pretty solid. And contained a few cool twists.










Negatives:The film lacks those one or two flashy characters. The tone of the movie is quite depressing, slow, and dark. It needed one or two characters to balance some of that out. The main characters fail at grabbing your attention while they're on screen most of the time. They just lacked charisma. Not too much, but enough to be noticeable.









Overall:Three stars out of four.