Half Moon (2011)

   
Executived Produced, Written & Directed by: Jason Toler

Starring:


Tori Black .... Rose
Marek Motousek .... Jacob
Torey D. Sutton .... Kevin

Release Date: Red Carpet Theatre (Los Angeles): February 28, 2011 (Premiere)
 
Rating:

 

A troubled prostitute named Rose (Tori Black) is often abused by his pimp Kevin (Torey D. Sutton) and is sent to a hotel by a somewhat decent guy named Jacob (Marek Motousek) who dines with her but there is a killer on the loose in the streets killing hookers and she suspects that he may be that person after discovering some weapons that he carries in which her and Kevin tie him up while he is unconcious while later on he tells her that he needs his medicine while explaining his condition that he has lycanthropy and may turn into something terrifying like possibly a .... werewolf.

 

In the beginning of the film we spot a dead hooker as well as an overly long opening in which this seemed to bore me half to death.
Then there's a flashback sequence with a pimp named Kevin banging one of his hookers named Rose doggystyle in which this didn't look convincing at all like it was supposed to be disturbing but everything on this scene failed big time. He gives instructions to his hookers on what to do which seemed to be just as phony but this was due to a shoestring budget on the surroundings happening here.
There's a neat cheesy moment with a security guard calling towards a figure lying in the street at night only to be noticed that he is a corpse in which this looked a bit creeepy in an indie horror way.
We spot a person in his hotel named Jacob taking pills and acting like a wreck which looked a little badly written and cheesy.
Later on the head hooker named Rose arrives as Jacob and her dine together in which this looked terribly long and quite boring discussing one another's background histories etc. It almost seemed to go nowhere at all but it did show some interesting moments like him swallowing a bottle of pills and her acting concerned in which it sometimes shows that not all porstitutes have nasty and selfish attitudes.
It seems to look intimidating later on when she goes into a bathroom to spot what he has which involves a gun, string rope and other objects in which he may possibly be a killer and her getting scared by all of this. The way it was done makes you imagine being in this position yourself. It gets exciting when she points gun at him showing a rage and he tries to reason with her on why he has that stuff but she doesn't listen to him making you wonder if he will snap and do something deadly.
While this dude is unconcious Rose waits for Kevin to arrive in which you have a feeling that he is going to be violent as that's just what happens since you do see a typical pimp treating his prostitutes that way if they think something bad has happened.
Then the story gets more effective and strong when Jacob is tied up but convinces Rose to get her his pills that he will be dangerous but keeps a good sanity level while doing all of this which makes you wonder what he's talking about. Yet you have a deep dark feeling that it will be something out of the oridinary since we do see a moon outside at night as we all guess that he's going to turn possibly into a werewolf. Yet Rose doesn't take him seriously acting sarcastic in which some spots are pretty funny. Their diecussions looked touching after a while and you feel sorry for this poor fellow as well as waiting for a deadly surprise and it happens close to the end as there's some surprisingly good scary effects that involves Jacob but yet the elements are used for a heroic cause as Kevin comes back and it's not pretty for Rose at all. The ending was quite impressive too.
Bottom line is that this was a dialogue type of storyline in which it seems like a psychological suspense drama but the horror comes into it nearing the end which is meant to surprise the viwer big time but in a great way. It lacked at first but became very well done over the small length of time. Quite a clever story if you want some solid drama into this along with the scares.

The acting is not too bad as lead actress Tori Black (Rose) seemed a bit rough at first with her performance as the main hooker especially when she tried to talk kinky but she really got into her part big time afterwards. She showed great aggressions with nice freaked out reactions and excitement. She brought alot of great energy whenever she did all of this. She also does well expressing her emotions too along with her charm. All in all was an interesting character actress.
Marek Motousek
(Jacob) brought on a nice still, calm and serious attitude into his part of the film with a good accent too. He also shows a nice laid back type of personality along with showing believeable anxiety whenever he needed to behave like this along with his aggressions and intensity too. He worked hard on his role as you can tell while watching his performance.
Torey D. Sutton
(Kevin) needed quite a bit of work on his role as a pimp in which he needed to be a bit more believeable with his aggressions and obnoxious behavior in which he didn't come across as believeably intimidating at all. However he seemed not to bad with his in your face type of attiude and manipulations. But he needed some acting lessons as you can tell and seemed a bit lazy at times.

A corpse with barebreasts is dead on a bed
A bunch of hookers get up and change with their boobs exposed
The main hooker has her breats exposed while caressing her client

A slashed throat is revealed from a corpse on the street
A hand is sliced off by a werewolf
A chunk of a hookers calf is sliced

Jason Toler seemed to lack at first with his work on the actors in which he shows supporting actor Torey D. Sutton on his hookers at what to do in which he didn't seem firm or convincing like he was supposed to have been. He just seemed too lazy on energy.
There's is a nice close up camera shot on him talking towards Tori Black and getting in her face which wasn't too badly done.
There's many good camera angle shots between Black and Marek Motousek dining and having a discussion in which at first it seems quite stale but Toler really spices it up later on in which Black shows a a good concerned attitude towards him when he reacts to choking and coughing while taking his medicine as this seemed to naturally flow well.
Good camera shots on Black getting sexy towards Motousek along with him not reacting to it well. She does a good job getting aggressive towards him along with good angered expressions.
Many good camera shots on the two of them taking it off and caressing one another as this didn't look too shabby as they got into it a bit fairly well.
Sutton does a good job panicking and panting while in a bathroom in which she shows great excitement while doing this seeming believeably scared.
She does a great job pointing a gun towards Motousek with him trying to act calm which looked impressive along with her showing great anxiety towards him and getting into this big tig time.
Black shows terrific panicking reactions while running into the bathroom trying to slam the door shut with Motousek trying to grab at her.
Sutton shows a nice approach in a room with him getting aggressive but yet his aggrressions needed a tiny bit improvement as well as his blocking when he slugs Black in which it didn't look too intensely done like it was supposed to.
There's many great strong dialogues back and fourth between Motousek panting and breathing heavily towards Black with her acting sarcastic and aggressive towards him in which this all looked impressive as well as him slowly losing his patience which looked great too.
Motousek also shows terrific insane and choking expressions losing it as this was highly energised along with a great moment on Black showing anxious concerns by approaching him really showing her stuff with her emotions towards him.
Sutton does well approaching the room again getting outrageous towards Black but yet when he acts physical towards her it looks quite phony.
A good camera shot looking down on Motousek showing aggressive and sneering expressions as well as tearing his shirt and really growing believeably insane.
Sutton does a great job acting shocked as well as menacing while shooting his gun as this looked highly energised.
Black does well reacting in pain from her ankle acting intense from it as if it were real.

There wasn't music of a composing score here but there was the odd low tones along with some hissing sounds for the suspenseful moments which seemed necessary. For most film music makes it work for the story but certainly not this one at all.