Static

Ever since Heroes, I've been something of a Milo Ventimiglia fan. I went back and watched Gilmore Girls (mostly the first three seasons) and then had a look at adding his film work to our LoveFilms list. However, both Pathology and The Divide (the most obvious additions) are horror movies and neither of them particularly appealed. He's made a few other things as well, but not many of them looked like my sort of thing and many had bad reviews (for example, Dirty Deeds and That's My Boy). I have been vaguely tempted by Armoured and it might make it onto the list at some point. Both Grace of Monaco and Heat look pretty certain for the list, but haven't been released yet. However, Static and Kiss of the Damned did make the list and, this week Static appeared.

Static was directed by a new director (Todd Levin), was clearly made on a small budget and has a small cast. One of the credits is for Divide Pictures which is MV's film company (jointly owned with Russ Cundiff). Static is somewhere between a horror film and a mystery. It's gotten two and three star reviews from various websites. It's about a couple who are still grieving over the loss of their only child when a stranger turns up on their doorstep, keen to be let in where it's safe.

I felt it was a nice concept, turned into an OK film. It has some utterly beautiful scenery which you see in the first quarter of an hour or so. I was interested in the three key characters and it has some good moments among the scenes I particularly liked the chandeliers hanging from the trees outside. Plus the film knows when to stop - it's about the right length (80 mins). However, the first third and the last third are better than the middle - which gets a little dull. Also, there's a little too much explanation at the end of what was going on. Overall I would say flawed but worth a look for its concept.