EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

lukn4frnz I like movies that push character's psychological limits, and the initial premise of this movie fit that.But there was so much to dislike with this movie, for me; - way too dark in many scenes and I'm thinking, okay, what am I seeing, and being clueless - frustrating! - not one character was likable, so I was never really pulling for any of them - hard plot to follow, too many characters, too many plot lines to keep track of - ending was horrible - bad guy just says 'I made it all up', what? Would have been just a tad better if the dentist hadn't shot himself in the last scene, it would have been interesting to try and imagine what happens afterward I stuck with the movie all the way through, and still unclear on a lot of stuff.

Matt Kracht Oh man, I really can't say enough bad things about the music in this film. It was just so horrible that I had to stop watching, with only twenty minutes left. I bet you think that I'm overreacting, but it was truly a grueling experience for me. Whatever genre that was, it is clearly my biggest weakness, and if I ever become a masked crimefighter, it will stop me in my tracks faster than a bullet. It was like some watered-down, generic version of Hootie & the Blowfish. Let that just wash over you. The horror of this experience dwarfed any emotional response that the movie could have elicited, and I find myself almost completely incapable of discussing anything *but* the soundtrack. I'm really sorry for going on about this, but I think this is cheaper and more therapeutic than psychotherapy.Besides the musical torture, I remember being somewhat confused by the plot, because it didn't really make all that much sense to me. The best part was how the psychopath apologized for being a noob, because this was his first kidnapping plot. Ha. That's definitely not something you see every day. All in all, not the worst movie I've seen, but it was a confusing jumble of flashbacks and weak acting, with music that drove me insane! I do give the director/writer/star some credit for an ambitious project, though. As silly as it sounds, I think I might have liked this movie a lot more, if it hadn't been for the music.

sodominican First and foremost the audience must believe indie-movie WASPs can be so retarded as to make themselves kidnapping victims. The initial threat of the fat "Saw" mastermind is to kill the manipulated hero's wife while the couple trap themselves in their own home per fat mastermind's instructions. The main characters readily gift-wrap themselves for an obese "Saw." One wants to yell, "Dude if some fat guy is threatening to kill your wife from outside your home and she is with you keeps her with you and call the cops".The "story" was hard to swallow. The subplot of the movie is about lies hurting third parties or marital betrayal or revenge. No one knows because the puzzle meant to be solved has no more than 45 pieces. Only the mastermind knows who, what, when or WTF. The plot involves lies about sexual preference, infertility, infidelity, prostitution thrown in a pot of HIV and Hep B. The clues are served on screen as annoying snippets by bad actors.One must note someone in involved in post- production is a PowerPoint enthusiast. The title and credits fonts were horrible. What no links or flying marquee? Honestly the entire movie was a mish-mash of bad lettering and editing. What is bearable? The montages--they were music video propaganda which promoted some local band's music to the hilt. The music montages were the only coherent imagery throughout the movie. Furthermore, the movie is unfinished the audience never finds out the motive of the home arrest and multiple murders of visiting characters. The mastermind basically surmises he was just f@#$g with whatever the main character's name is-- because the victim was stupid enough to trap himself in his own house and fall asleep while the obese "Saw" took the wife to the adjoining garage. The husband suffers from starvation and dehydration when he finally gets a chance to speak to the mastermind face to face. The two both look horrible. The wife is being hung up in a noose by obese "Saw" and you notice she makes no movement. Only one of the characters has been eating--obviously for three. The mastermind gets away via bad editing.The wife dies from having her hand amputated and/or being hung from the garage rafter so the husband kills himself. It is reasonable to conclude she gnawed her own hand off to escape this production. If your spouse is be forced into watching this movie-- Run away! Run away from this movie. If someone threatens your love one run away in a zigzag pattern or lock yourself in your house and call the Police.

homecoming8 This "psychological" thriller (because this is certainly not a horror movie) has a couple boarding up their own house (why do they do that?) to be submitted to a strange puzzle game. They are somewhat forced by an unknown man. If you think this sounds dumb, wait until you see the movie (but please don't). The story is very unbelievable because normal people don't do that and escape (which is easy). During annoying flashbacks their past is revealed."99 pieces" is a very low budget rip-off from the original "Saw", and the result is just awful. Everything is wrong here: the production values, the cast, the total lack of excitement, tension or gore, you name it. The main "actor" is also the producer, composer and director of this p--ce of crap. So that explains a lot. I only watched the first boring half hour and than fastforwarded it. Trust me: you won't watch it longer..