12 Kilometers (2016)

Wow. I needed a few minutes after the film to just take it all in.. TL;DR - It's fantastic. Go watch it. If you don't have access to it yet, go find the director Mike Pecci on social media and follow him till he gets you a link. If you like a good suspense movie, you will love this. I want to share this film so badly with my friends. I am not a fan of gory-slasher horror. The cheesy suspense music and story line so obvious that it is boringly obvious when the "scare" will happen? Yeah, those movies are what bored me with the horror genre. This isn't that kind of movie. Not at all. It's everything they aren't in a great way. First, the camera work is amazing. I love the opening shot. Wonderful! How the camera introduces and follows characters is fantastic and this alone is enough reason for me to watch it again. Second, it is mysterious suspense creepy. It pulls you in and engages with you leaving you on the edge in a psychological suspense. It reminds me a lot of how I felt when I watched Hitchcock films when I was young. The storyline is intriguing and just captured my attention. Third, instead of going for gory they went for unnatural. After thinking about it (and confirming my thoughts with a quick search) I'm about 95% certain I know how they did most of their trickery. But while I was watching it, my brain didn't go to "I think I know how they did that trick". Rather it was "Oh my, no...that is not right." The micro-photography was very well done. And because the story was so engaging, when the unnatural began it was creepy and a bit disturbing. The fourth and last reason why I thought 12KM was so much better than modern horror films is because it left me wanting more. I want to know more about what was going on. I want to see how the story progresses. I want to know what happens next. And, of course, I want to go back and feel the same kind of skin-crawl in a full length movie. So why a 4 1/2 instead of 5? Besides the fact that I'm becoming more grumpy and giving less 5 stars than I used to. :-) Well, twice in the film, a moment happened that was jarring in a 'take me out of the momentum of the film' kind of way. Both are fairly minor (neither impact the story), but they are the "movie mistakes" that just irritate me that they were so noticeable when they are really easy fixes. In addition, I understand why the nude scene is important and I don't have a complaint about the scene itself (it actually adds to the creepy factor!). There were just two shots that I thought 'Ack! Why? I did not need to see that!' I just wish the cuts where a bit different I suppose. For a independent film maker on a small budget, I am amazed. I thank the director and his crew for an amazing 30 minutes of entertainment. Also, I LOVED the Kubrick-2001-ish credit scene. I don't know if that was on purpose or not, but that was exactly the kind of trippy-but-this-is-amazing feeling that I had. "Kubrick-ish" is the best complement description I can think of. The credit sequence complimented and ended the film so well.