Terry's Reviews
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13 Seconds - 2003 Written and Directed Jeff Thomas Starring |
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| This is not an easy review to write because I
feel mixed about this film. On one hand you have a director Jeff Thomas who seems to have
great energy for the genre and is pretty ambitious with special effects and overall story
concept. On the other hand, the story is jumbled, the actors are weak, and the physical
action and dialogue are not very believable. A rock band travels to an abandoned military academy to work on their new album. Soon after setting up to work on the album things go wrong as an evil presence starts dispatching each band member using paintings to foretell their deaths. I see so many films of the super low budget realm that show no real talent or ambition. That’s not the case here. Jeff Thomas is an obvious horror fan and has taken his passion for films such as THE FOG and JACOB’S LADDER and integrated it into 13 SECONDS. The beginning especially reminded me of John Carpenter’s ghost revenge film and the spastic, quick jerking heads of the creatures in 13 SECONDS are almost right out of Adrian Lyne’s film. Thomas is certainly enamored with having good special make-up effects and Malefactor Studios FX team delivers the goods. Their work is probably the single greatest achievement in this film. I don’t think any of the actors were right for this film. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were all just friends of the director or producer. I never saw the depth or commitment that a real actor brings but I can’t blame it all on them. The script didn’t really help them and Jeff Thomas has to take some responsibility as he wrote and directed the film. He should have at least noticed that things weren’t working on the set and made some kind of adjustment to give his performers a little help. Most of the time each person looked bored out of their mind and seemed to be reading cue cards. The other thing that really bothered me was the way the characters went up and down, in and out of all the rooms of the military academy. This physical action becomes repetitive and tiresome and made no real sense. Thomas should put much more thought into how things play out. Another aspect that hurt the film was the sound mix. Many moments I had to struggle to hear dialogue as the music was mixed too loud drowning out words which were said at a low monotone volume. No amount of bloodshed can overcome not being able to understand, care or follow the characters. The locations for the film were pretty cool. The abandoned academy and the surrounding woods stood out with creepiness. The added layer of fog certainly helped develop mood. The paintings used to forecast each character’s demise were amazing. While many of the micro low budget filmmakers never really move up and improve, I think that if Jeff Thomas honestly looks at this film with a critical eye, he has the potential to make a significantly better film.
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