Psychic Experiment (2010)

   

Produced, Written, Composed, Edited & Directed by: Mel House

Starring:

.... Cole Gray
.... Lisa Stanton / Creature
Reggie Bannister .... Joseph Webber
.... John Rodríguez
Natalie Jones .... Julie Dylan
Eryn Brooke .... Tracie Johnson
Adrienne King .... Louise Strack
.... Elspeth Thompson
.... Jennifer Crusel
James LaMarr .... Philip Anderson
.... Mr. Anderson
Kathy Lamkin .... Mrs. Anderson
.... Marie Gray

Release Dates: Dallas International Film Festival: April 15, 2010; Vermont International Film Festival / Hallowscreen Film Festival: October 20, 2010; South African Horrorfest: November 2, 2010

 

Rating:

 
An idyllic, small, self-sufficient community. On the surface, it seems like the perfect neighborhood. Everything you could possibly need is within walking distance. But the pastoral exterior conceals a dark past and an even darker secret. As a group of individuals (each with their own ties and agendas with the town and each other) converge on the enclave, strange things begin to happen. Very strange things. Strange enough to test (and then break) the very fabric of reality itself.

 

The film has some nice effective opening credits with a newspaper burning and stuff like that which I thought that I'd be in for a nice little indie horror flick but after the credits things seemed dull watching people having discussions and then are heading out with an agent to their station on a situation as some of this looked mildly entertaining.
Also there's situations with people discussing what happened in a paper they read on the fellow Joseph Webber being a molester as this grabbed my attention wondering the outcome on all of this.
There's even a mysterious moment with a parent having her nose bleeding which is a drawing card to the horror story since this happens to a beginning of a terrifying moment later on which works every time.
In the story we see Joseph in his home putting a gun to his chin which caught my attention wondering if he will pull the trigger or not and his phone rings as this breaks the silence big time.
While the story still becomes tiring then the action begins when someone is talking on their cell phone in an alleyway and suddenly this some sort of ooze falls out of a window on what looks like a factory (As the CGI effects are badly comupterised effects) with an object coming out of this ooze as well as what this thing does to this person since this scene reminds me on retro horror flicks by how it was done and it looked fun to watch to the point that I saved this review from bombing it.

Then a good shocking moment when a family man returns home and there's the back of his child's head watching TV along with something gruesome in a result with his wife caused by this being as this makes things look truly creepy and mysterious.
Our lead fellow Cole Gray chilling out with his friends at a bar and his abusive mother shows up and says nasty things to him in which this looked fairly convincing on two dysfunctional people. During these moments the camera shoots two people sitting down with their faces looking sticky which was a nice drawing horror attention that something bizarre will happen during this situation and looked fairly well done.
Joseph enters a toy store and gets delusional as he sees people cackling at him and so fourth in which I figured that he was hallucinating in which this was a decent twisted moment but then some toy dolls come to life tearing out of their boxes and wrecking havoc which seemed very corny and similar to a killer doll movie done in 1988. But wait a sec, these killer dolls start to grow metal blades in their fingers. I wonder what other movie this came from?! It's even cornier when the town freaks out running chaotic with all of this madness happening. In other words it looked very phony and laughable but in a bad way.
However there's some twisted moments with a nurse reacting strangely and then revealing herself which added some great horror formula as well as a moment with the other survivors going into some sort of a room where there's 3D colours which almost psychs you out one of the agents whom is Louise Strack revealing her evil and dark secret to them as this all looked well done.
While the people in the town are still freaking out and running around Philip Anderson is wondering as to why this is happening and his Dad calls to him to come on in as this was one of the best scene's in the film making this seem like something creepy is about to happen by how this was done and boy does something gruesome occurs in their home which looked pretty messed up and done in a good horror fashion which was another pointer saving this flick from bombing.
Cole starts to have flashbacks on his childhood in a hospital with his abusive mother as well as a moment with Joseph as both of these were well drawn in and quite dramatic.
Then after the twisted 3D moments, Cole starts to head back home and sees two people in a bloodied bathtub with their skin melting together and acting creepy as this was a good scene to watch for anyone who loves strange horror flicks. Especially some of the old classic one's as this is paying a tribute to these kind as you could tell.
Near the end of the film Cole's Mom tries to give in to him and Lisa Stanton tells him it's a trick as this is always a teaser in a horror flick and it made me wonder if he will buy this or not since watching the film we already know that this is a trap for poor Cole.
Bottom line is that this flick paid a tribute to the films that we remember like Carpenter's remake on The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and a bit of The Blob but made on a much lower budget. I didn't like the flick myself but it had some interesting moments as was mentioned but it's not a film to be taken seriously.

Alot of the acting is pretty bad but some of it is good such as (Cole Gray) seemed to do well being emotionless with his reactions and his discussions as well as acting convincingly troubled on what he does. He seemed to be a right fit for the role and seemed to pull off some characteristics.
(Lisa Stanton / Creature) wasn't too shabby in her role either as she seems to be on the ball with her serious attitude and seemed convincingly wise with what she was talking about and shows off a decent energetic attitude too as well as representing herself well.
Reggie Bannister (Joseph Webber) however is too over the top when he freaks out or reacts intensely on situations and not making it seem convincing at all. Yet when he acts mellow and is soft spoken in certain parts he does the trick well. He was half good and half bad.
(John Rodríguez
) was another good character actor however in which he was solid in his speaking and explaining stuff along the way in which he offers a perfect seriousness as to what is going on and studied this role fairly well withon all that he had to do here.
Natalie Jones
(Julie Dylan) was yet another over the top performer who needed some acting lessons as she was supposed to be an aggressive one but seemed too silly to be taken seriously and can't seem to come across as a negative type. She got on my nerves a bit.
Eryn Brooke (Tracie Johnson) had the good looks for the role and was very noticeable. Can she act? She isn't too bad as she seems to strut herself well whenever she gets into her role and seemed to show off a no nonsense attitude too.
Adrienne King (Louise Strack) does a fabulous job in her role and a good comeback since her work in Friday the 13th in which she shows it off greatly with her slick behavior as an agent of some sort only later on to show off a good wicked behavior and revealing her dark secret too. Knew on how to act evil as she proves to be a worthy character actress.
James LaMarr (Philip Anderson) seemed to look right as a geeky type which he shows it off well along with doing a good job by acting alert on situations and showing off some good energy within whatever he did in his role of the film. Yes he seemed to do well with his characteristics.
(Mr. Anderson) didn't have a ton of screen time but was worth mentioning big time as he drew in a great seriousness in his role as well as have a creepy type of personality later on in his role as he shows off some nice horror characteristics. He really studied his part inside out.
(Marie Gray) was terrific as a basket case type of person doing well with her sharp and abusive actions as well as acting believeably unpleasant within what she does. Also adds a nice versatality trying to act sympathetic and pleading near the end of her performance. She also knew on how to act wicked and evil too. I often found her to do well within whatever show she was in.

Woman's shirt is unbuttoned in a toy store with her breasts revealed
A barebreasted woman is lying in her bathtub

Body is attacked by an object which looked a little gruesome on what it does with wires impaling inside his body and he explodes
A childs face is missing with insides revealed
Body is melted in a gob
Killer dolls are biting and stabbing people revealing a violent bloodshed
Insides are are torn out of someone's stomach
Face is torn off
Two people are tearing guts out of a persons body
Two people are bloodied in a bathtub with their skin getting sticky towards one another
Someone rips out the insides from someone's back

To be perfectly honest composers Dwayne Cathey and Mel House didn't seem to impress me with what they offered. Sure there's some effective booming sounds like we hear in other flick but some of the music just didn't sound too effective excpet for certain scene's with the twisted moments have twisted toned out classical music but that was about it. It wasn't terrible by any means. Just that I wasn't a fan of it at all.