A young man, Alex, has incredible mental capacity that seems to grow by the second... while at the same time his migraines become more and more frequent. How is this connected to the monsters that have recently appeared and began killing off his acquaintances one by one?
I received this film as the result of a contest at Killer Reviews (where I have since become a staff member). I had never heard of the director, never heard of the film, was a bit wary of the so-called "awards" listed on the back. I knew who Dee Wallace and Udo Kier were, but didn't know if that was enough to make a movie work. In short, I had expected this film to be watched once and filed away behind a copy of "Point Break" or "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". I was wrong.
The film starts with some short shots that fade in and out (which I didn't care for but they end after the intro). Then, in the first ten minutes, we get the goriest scene in the movie and one of the better gore scenes in a horror movie I've seen lately (let's just say it's like the suicide from the remake of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", but better).
The gore is toned down after that (which is too bad, because many times -- especially the restroom scene -- were just begging to be bloodbaths). But where the blood stops a deep and complex storyline begins, that you may not be able to figure out in your first viewing. Some aspects are guessable but the entirely film demands close attention if you want to even catch a fraction of the underlying plot.
There is a subplot concerning a chess game (or rather multiple chess games) I found to be very interesting. I didn't understand some of the technical dialog in these scenes (discussions of past chess players' defenses) but this really drove home the hyper-intellect aspect of the film and I appreciated that.
Udo Kier appears as the creepy German guy, just like most of his other films. And he makes it work, being a priest in this case. Dee Wallace plays a doctor, but her character does not really stand out much so other than a nod to her earlier horror work it wasn't really necessary to cast her. All the other actors (whose names I don't know) were perfect: there was nothing amateur or independent-looking about this production.
Andrew VanDenHouten is a great addition to the horror world, and is sadly being overlooked due to the mainstream work of such people as Rob Zombie and Eli Roth. Maybe "Headspace" will be for VanDenHouten what "Dog Soldiers" was for Neil Marshall, and in another year or two he will be a name known in the dark underbelly of film.
I received this film as the result of a contest at Killer Reviews (where I have since become a staff member). I had never heard of the director, never heard of the film, was a bit wary of the so-called "awards" listed on the back. I knew who Dee Wallace and Udo Kier were, but didn't know if that was enough to make a movie work. In short, I had expected this film to be watched once and filed away behind a copy of "Point Break" or "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". I was wrong.
The film starts with some short shots that fade in and out (which I didn't care for but they end after the intro). Then, in the first ten minutes, we get the goriest scene in the movie and one of the better gore scenes in a horror movie I've seen lately (let's just say it's like the suicide from the remake of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", but better).
The gore is toned down after that (which is too bad, because many times -- especially the restroom scene -- were just begging to be bloodbaths). But where the blood stops a deep and complex storyline begins, that you may not be able to figure out in your first viewing. Some aspects are guessable but the entirely film demands close attention if you want to even catch a fraction of the underlying plot.
There is a subplot concerning a chess game (or rather multiple chess games) I found to be very interesting. I didn't understand some of the technical dialog in these scenes (discussions of past chess players' defenses) but this really drove home the hyper-intellect aspect of the film and I appreciated that.
Udo Kier appears as the creepy German guy, just like most of his other films. And he makes it work, being a priest in this case. Dee Wallace plays a doctor, but her character does not really stand out much so other than a nod to her earlier horror work it wasn't really necessary to cast her. All the other actors (whose names I don't know) were perfect: there was nothing amateur or independent-looking about this production.
Andrew VanDenHouten is a great addition to the horror world, and is sadly being overlooked due to the mainstream work of such people as Rob Zombie and Eli Roth. Maybe "Headspace" will be for VanDenHouten what "Dog Soldiers" was for Neil Marshall, and in another year or two he will be a name known in the dark underbelly of film.