The Source (2001)

3/10

oclegg16 August 2006

This film was truly bad and must be of the straight to video variety.

It was riddled with stilted acting and poor casting, the main character was far too old to be a high school or even college student and was only marginally younger that the actor who played his father. One of the teachers is also younger than one of the female leads. Makes no sense.

Special effects appear to be straight out of Adobe Premere and the story fails to take off .... no soul at all. Shot in music video style, emphatic editing and cool clothes in a clumsy attempt to nail down a demographic audience.

This was probably someone's attempt to break into the industry with some rich uncle's money.

The kind of film you'll find late at night to fill air time.

2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

3/10

Did they even try?

tyranid_slayer22 April 2007

Warning: Spoilers

I am a big horror fan and i watch the horror channel if there something on that seems good and then i watch it. Then at about 9 there was this film on called the source. The basic story is some rejects find a rock that gives them special powers (GASP) so they get pointless revenge on school bullies like making them pick their nose and hypnotizing the school into slaves under one persons mind control powers. There are plenty other films out there to watch this is not one of them with bad special effects and wooden acting give this a miss the only reason you should watch this is if there is nothing else on TV to watch. After watching this i totally lost faith in horror films (if this can be counted as a horror movie) but if anyone can stand the whole film let alone the first half hour i would applaud that person unfortunately thats not going to happen.

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

3/10

A decent idea done poorly

TheLittleSongbird17 January 2013

There are worse movies out there than The Secret Craft/The Surge. The film did at least have a decent if not entirely original premise going for it, and Alice Frank and Edward DeRuitter are not bad in their roles. I'll also say and agree that the teens are sexy. Unfortunately that is all I can say really in The Secret Craft's defence. The low budget technically really shows, with camera work that makes you feel that you're on the world's rockiest see-saw, flash editing that gets nauseating very quickly and low lighting that tries to be atmospheric but ends up being obvious. The music is all loud and monotonous with no subtlety or atmosphere, while the direction is hopelessly misguided, never taking full grasp of the story and doing nothing to serve the actors. The dialogue feels awkward and has so much cheese that it makes you wince, while the story is generic and predictable with the origins of the powers both very underdeveloped and confusingly handled. The characters, forgiving for a second that they are stereotypes, are annoying and cartoony with the villains particularly unbelievable. The acting on the most part is amateurish, Melissa Renee Martin faring worst, being entirely too feeble for an incarnation of evil sort of character, she acts cruel but that's all there is. Matthew Scollon is bland as his heroic character. So overall, has a decent idea but has little else to recommend otherwise. 3/10 Bethany Cox

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Weird, but has a few good moments

vchimpanzee3 July 2007

Reese is the new kid at school. It probably doesn't help that his father is the new chemistry teacher. But he also dresses in black and wears makeup--though I've seen far worse. Reese's dad makes a comment about how things will likely be better at this school. Well, that isn't going to be the case.

Reese gets picked on more than most outcast teens I've seen in movies or on TV, but he does make friends. Zack is sort of a nerd, and his sister Ashley is an angry but sarcastic rebel. Phoebe is a new-age type who is allergic to most foods--and wool (but who eats wool?).

Zack has discovered a portal in the woods on the side of a mountain, and he has recorded his observations and calculations on his laptop computer. He believes if the energy (which he describes as fusion) could be harnessed, we would no longer be dependent on fossil fuels.

But the teens try something different. They discover that by stepping inside the field surrounding the portal, each one gets a different super power. Zack can read minds, Phoebe can move objects (in "Carrie" this was called telekinesis), and Ashley can persuade others to do whatever she says--provided the other person is not strong-willed enough to resist. Reese's power is harder to figure out--it turns out to be the ability to heal. The powers don't last but a few days, so periodic recharging is necessary.

At first, the teens' new abilities provide comedy relief as well as a fantasy for anyone who was ever mistreated (or even perceived themselves as being mistreated) in school, by students or faculty. But Moss, who has been working with Zack on studying the portal, warns Zack that these powers could be dangerous. Moss is right.

This was not that bad a movie. But one sign it wasn't great: actors with one line delivered that line with all the enthusiasm that one line deserves. In fact, in really good movies, a single line can be delivered so well that the performance is memorable.

The four lead actors did a good job at least some of the time. Melissa Martin did the best as the rebellious and sarcastic Ashley.

The dress and behavior of these lead performers did not fit stereotypes (of course, Ashley's actions went beyond the usual even before she received her abilities). None of them would have been perceived as weird-looking if we hadn't been told they were supposed to be. This is good in that the movie didn't resort to the device of making the characters extreme examples of a certain personality type. Zack wasn't a Steve Urkel, even if he seemed to have Steve's intelligence. In fact, his grades weren't that good.

The music, if you can call it that, usually managed to be quite loud. It was alternative rock and high-tech dance music, for the most part. Most of it wasn't as unnerving as what was used for the opening and closing credits--this would probably appeal to teens like Reese. It all sounds like garbage to me, but somehow I got the impression it might be considered quality stuff. Certainly the dance music wasn't of the Britney Spears/Hilary Duff variety. More like dark basements in the bad section of town with flashing lights at 2 in the morning. I did like the polka music in one scene where someone was trying to bring Ashley under control.

I'm not hard to please when it comes to visual effects. Bright colored cloud effects and fast movement seemed to be enough here. Nothing ground-breaking. And of course each teen's eyes glowed in a weird color as each power was used.

Surprisingly, this film had little real violence. We were constantly subjected to rapid-fire editing of some flashback of a bloody event in Reese's past which might explain his behavior. And we also saw the aftermath of an event in the movie itself.

The best thing I can say is that for mistreated teens, this film represents a fantasy, but it also shows consequences.

7 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

1/10

Stop the rocking...Stop the rocking

thebishop222 January 2004

The kind of movie you tell your friends about......tell to stay far away from.

This is the kind of film making that would make Ed Wood proud. Poor plot, bad acting and a terrible camera crew, this movie has it all. From camera techniques that leave the viewer reaching for the Dramamine to a script that explains nothing, you really can't ask for more in a C class flick.

The movie starts off following Reece, a goth kid who wears more makeup than Tammy Faye Baker. He's sullen, he's moody and he's surly, the kind of kid who always makes "special" friends with the jocks of any high school he attends. He's befriended by 3 other outcasts, Zack, Ashley and Phoebe. "Outcasts" that all dress nice and drive nice cars nonetheless. They take him to a magic spot in the woods where Zack, the brainy one, has figured out produces some kind of super energy from cold fusion with just his palm pilot. Reece goes off by himself and immediately discovers a large, glowing yellow rock that no one has ever noticed before. Somehow they discover stepping into the energy source allows them to gain interesting low budget powers that made their eyes glow different colors. I'd explain it more, but that's all they give us, so you just have to accept it as such.

The kids decide to take action and get back at all the people that have treated them badly, embarrassing teachers, cheerleaders, punks and audience members everywhere. Ashley goes on a power spree, inflicting terrible revenge on her enemies like nosepicking and sitting in garbage cans, so you can see it gets really intense. I don't want to spoil the rest as I want to leave you salivating for more.

Most of these kids look 30+ and have never had any lead performance roles before in their lives. While most will never amount to too much in the acting world, I do believe Zack could be, if given enough time and the right amount of extensive training, a really good Extra some day, the kind you put behind the Hanks' and Cruise's of the world to make for a more convincing scene. The others would be good cadavers on shows like CSI. I just recommend that Zack leave his shirt on for the rest of his career.

Can't anyone write a low level script that tells a coherent story in 90 minutes? I've seen more expressive QVC shows. The filmmakers assumed we should just know the depths of everything; character motivations, the meaning of vague music video flashbacks, exactly where it was all going.

And what was going on with the camera work? They kept using this 'rocking' camera technique (using the word technique loosely) that made you seasick for no apparent reason other than to keep your eyes from leaving the screen, which mine kept doing. There were also other shots that looked like they just kept a camera on in case something cool happened.

Overall, I'd say this movie is a 1 out of 10, and that's being generous. You could make the same film with known actors and still not get anything from it. A total nightmare of film making.

18 out of 24 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

1/10

Ummm

jpickettiii9 June 2020

I just watched the last 10 minutes and this was worse than The Dead Hate the Living. But strangely I would watch again.

1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

1/10

Painful, embarrassing, boring, and shocking(ly bad)

TheManWhoWasntThere19 January 2006

That's a lie. It wasn't shockingly bad. I wasn't surprised at all at how bad this was.

Actually, the only reason I saw this film was because they filmed it at my high school in the small town of Simi Valley. I remember when they filmed it ( I believe I was a sophomore or a freshmen at the time)i was an extra in the background with a gripfull of other students.

After a lot of time, I finally saw it... and with no hope for it at all. But MAN! Holy freakin' god! This movie is painful to watch.

Maybe its because they filmed all over my hometown and tried to make it look like a random beach city.... but its not. Its Simi Valley... VALLEY, about an hour away from any beach.

The acting was lame, which I expected, the special effects I didn't even want to consider. The editing/sound editing was pathetic beyond belief and when I saw that there was a screenwriter....well, that was a joke all on its own. It makes me wonder, did this movie cost really anything at all? Probably not much. Don't waste your time. Go enjoy your time and watch yourself in the mirror for an hour and a half. There's probably better surprises there anyway.

3 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

1/10

Awful

Adorably-Obnoxious13 May 2014

Just writing a "review" on some random movie because I'm OCD and want all checkmarks on my profile like a good little girl who does everything she's told. :oD That's not to say I didn't watch this movie though. It's horrible. BOOM. Reviewed. Gimme all my checkmarks IMDb.

Oh dear, I have to have at least 1o lines of text to submit for a real actual review. Here is a short story then. Once upon a time, a girl went on IMDb. She then went on a search for the most horrible movie she could find to write a review. It was a tie between this one and another one about male witches where the abysmal line "I'm gonna make you my wi-atch" was uttered. The world ended that day.

2 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

1/10

I wasted 97 minutes of my life and I want them back

simpsons_queen9 March 2008

This movie reminded me why I don't watch TV broadcast movies on Sundays. The only people I would recommend this movie to would be someone who works directly in the movie industry---as a "what not to do" checklist. The acting was terrible, the sound and lighting were laughable, and the effects were, at best, tolerable. I also felt that putting fifteen year old girls in tube tops and booty shorts, as tasteful as that move was, surprisingly did not help the plot line. It's actually kind of like a really bad, trailer trash version of The Craft. Don't take my word for it though...feel free to watch it and review it yourself. But a word of advice: Smoke a lot of pot first.

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

7/10

Worth a Look

jheflin-115 June 2005

I stumbled upon this gem of a film at 2 AM on good old UHF during a lengthy HD format and, I'll admit, it kept me quite entertained for the two hours I sat and watched it. Yes, the shaking camera effect and the constant "Disco Ball" reflections are quite cheesy, but there are many other positives to be examined. The characters, while movie and TV stereotypes, are still very representative of actual high school personalities. The brains, bullies, sluts, goths, and hippies were shown just as I remember them. Also, the X-men/The Craft/insert marvel comic here... powers were worked into the plot well. Great movie, Oscar candidate, worthy mention?... nah!!! But if you can take a low budget movie with a grain of salt and you went to a public high school I would recommend this fun little flic. If Blockbuster is out of Hollywood's newest multi-gazillion dollar extravaganza pay the $1 and try it.

3 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

1/10

great fun

donwhituk12 November 2005

We are currently in the middle of watching this movie, me, my husband and my 12 year old son. We're really enjoying it because it is SO bad. The characters are undeveloped and unbelievable, why doesn't anyone notice their eyes changing colour? I love the thought of being able to read everyone's minds, and of course being able to get revenge on anyone who has ever been mean to me. We had to look it up to check it wasn't deliberately tongue in cheek. The scenery in the woods and the speeded up segments remind us very much of the power rangers, as do the shots of the four standing back to back before going off to fight the baddies. We do indeed feel seasick as a result of the rocking camera work. A great movie for a Saturday night in with the kids!

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

10/10

Late night brain candy.

misko300016 May 2004

The description on the cable guide was:

"Four teenagers use psychic powers to get revenge on the bullies in High-school. 2002"

And I think, OK time for some brain candy wrapped in bad horror. I was wrong. This was actually a pretty good movie, there were a few unexplained plot points but in general I really enjoyed this film. I also fell instantly in love with the actress playing Pheobe - Alice Frank. Oh and Ashley ain't too bad either. The acting in this is far better than I expected and for a low budget film the sets and effects were very good. I also will be looking for this on DVD to buy.

5 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

7/10

"How exactly did this happen... exactly." Surprisingly decent little teen horror/Sci-Fi thing.

poolandrews12 December 2005

Warning: Spoilers

The Source begins as troubled teen goth Reese Hauser (Mathew Scollon) & his Father Jerry (Johnny Venocur) look to start a new life in a non discript American town somewhere. Things get off to a bad start as Reese quickly finds himself & his goth lifestyle being ridiculed by just about everyone else, add this to the fact that his Father is the new history teacher, the school principal McKinley (Ronald Rezac) is a bit of a bully himself & things are not going well. However Reese is befriended by fellow losers, goth's & nerds Zack Bainbridge (Edward DeRuiter), his sister Ashley (Melissa Renee Martin) & their friend Phoebe Lewis (Alice Frank). While out exploring some lithium deposits in some local woods the four discover a magical rock which concentrates all the lithium's power into one stream which, when stepped in, enhances ones psychical attributes as well as unlocking secret dormant powers, Zack calls it 'scionics'. Zack gains the power of telepathy, Ashley has the power to control others & phoebe has the power of telekinesis while Reese has the power of psychical regeneration & healing. At first they use their new found powers to gain a humiliating but ultimately harmless revenge on their tormentors, that is until one of the group decides use their powers for rather more sinister reasons...

Edited, co-written & directed by Steve Taylor I was quite surprised at how much I didn't hate The Source, I think that's a better way of putting it than how I much I liked it as I don't really want to give the impression that The Source is any sort of masterpiece. The script by Taylor & Roger Kristian Jones moves along at a fair pace & to be brutally honest rips-off The Craft (1996), or should that be borrows some of it's ideas & themes? I unexpectedly quite liked the character's in The Source, they all have just enough personality to be likable which was essential if The Source is to work as a film & engage the viewer while a special mention goes to the the girls in The Source who are seriously hot which doesn't hurt. Generally it's pretty lightweight stuff, it doesn't even try to say meaningful things about serious issues like bullying, depression, conflicts with parents, theft & friendship that The Source brings up. Instead it skates around them a little which is fine as the acting & writing involved isn't really up to high drama, but we do get lots of special powers being put to good or bad use & where on Earth did the idea of a magical rock come from? The Source also went into a direction that I didn't expect & a nice climax.

Director Taylor turns The Source into a feature length music video. He tries everything, editing tricks, shots where the camera tilt's back & forth for no apparent reason, hand held jerky shots, slow motion, reduced frame rate, the image turned upside down & various other gimmicky techniques. One more thing I have to point out is that The Source is probably the brightest film I have watched, from the garish clothes to the outside scenes where the grass looks so bright it would glow in the dark & for some reason there are flashes of light shooting around the screen all the time almost as if someone was shining a torch on random objects in the scene, very strange & I'm not sure what it's all about. The Source lacks any real violence or gore, a cut arm & a few splashes of blood is about it while there isn't any nudity either.

On a technical level The Source isn't too bad considering that the budget must have been small to say the least. It was obviously shot on video rather than film which might explain why it looks so bright, unfortunately when something is shot on video it has that cheap 'n' nasty look & feel to it. The music sounds like it has come straight from a techno rave CD while generally speaking it's quite well made. Apart, that is, from one or two poor CGI special effects particularly at the end. The acting is decent enough & I think I'm in love with Melissa Renee Martin...

I wasn't expecting to but I actually rather liked The Source, it's nothing to heavy, it's good fun & provides 100 odd minutes worth of entertainment. Don't get me wrong it isn't brilliant but I personally think it's well worth a watch.

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

1/10

Possibly the worst movie ever.

ericsf9 January 2004

This film fails on so many levels I don't know where to begin. Let's start with the shoddy plot in which 4 high school "misfits" (best looking group of misfits I've ever seen...) find a "magic" rock in the woods and once they "float" over it, each develops a special power that they use to exact revenge on the teachers and students on campus that treated them badly. Unfortunately, the "revenges" consist mostly of tripping people, making them sit in garbage cans or pick their noses in public. Ooohhhh, that'll teach them!!

Such a blatant rip off of The Craft (which was actually a pretty good movie) but this one sports terrible acting (if you can call it that), minimal plot explanation (they just get powers from this glowing rock in the woods...how lame). A terrible, unrelated sub-plot of one of the teens mother's suicide (complete with bloody maggots in flashbacks) just adds to the stupidity and incoherence of the story.

The cinematography consists of super-saturated colors, fast music video like cuts, strobe lighting dancing around in the background and a continuous tilting camera effect that makes it look like you're watching it all on the high seas. I actually started to feel queasy during some scenes and was ready to drop anchor 20 minutes in. The only nice special effect is when each of their eyes glow different neon colors while using their powers. They're all sooo Pretty!!!;8^)

A complete waste of time. F minus. Go rent the Craft instead.

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Very fun flick, cool story

Xando10 October 2003

I really liked this movie. The acting is far from great and the special effects kind of suck, but when you are dealing with a low budget direct to video kind of movie, you almost expect this. It's one of those kind of movies that you see on cable at like 2am and just sort of fall into the storyline and just get a fun funky ride. I think if you like Buffy, The Craft and other teen angst/special powers stuff, you'll get a get out of this movie. It really reminded me of a story that would make a great comic book premise or a great tv series if handled by good writers. If you are a fan of comic books and interesting origin of powers stories I think that you can make certain parrallels between this story and comic books like The Fantastic Four or maybe even Power Pack. I also like the idea of how this film deals with the realistic elements of how teens in high school might deal with getting special powers. These kids aren't out to save the world or use their powers for good. Far from it. Anyone that was ever picked on by a bully has had some kind of revenge fantasy and this movie shows how teens with an axe to grind might use their powers for revenge and power as opposed to making the world a better place. If you had special powers and the ability to make yourself a god, would you? Could you resist the temptation to take revenge? This film is not going to get nominated for any awards, nor would I suggest renting it if you are over the age of 20, but if you see it's on cable, check it out. struggle through the first 20 minutes or so, and I think you'll have a fun ride.

4 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

1/10

Don't Bother!

ereh96 March 2005

Warning: Spoilers

Don't bother getting this movie, it's utterly pointless. The only reason I got it was because it had David Anders who plays Mr. Julian Sark on Alias. He isn't in the movie for more than 5 minutes, and that's 5 minutes in several different scenes. The movie's main concept is that a group of 4 teenage outcasts; Reese (Goth Boy), Zach (Rich nerd), Ashley (Rich nerd's slut sister who is secretly rotten to the core or "the source"), and Phoebe (flower child reject.) Is it just me or all flowery children named Phoebe? Nevermind. Anyways, they get a little power hungry and Ashley goes ape, turning the school into an evil nightmarish hell zone where the reject teenage outcast's former tormentors become her sex slaves. So I guess it's all yay in Ashley's view but not very fun for everyone else.

For everyone who is seeing this for David Anders and I assume the majority of you are then...He plays Boogi (aptly named so too) who basically walks around and leers in the background wearing funny trousers. He DOES have a few minutes of interview time on the DVD but it is so NOT WORTH IT. Don't bother.

There are a few disturbing sequences where Reese has dreams about blood in the bathroom and we see that his mom slit her wrists in the bathroom.

So yeah, don't bother. BAD SCI-FI effects warning too.

-Erica

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

4/10

Nice idea, suffers from a low budget

rob-2363 March 2003

This was released in the UK straight to DVD titled "The Secret Craft" -obviously playing on the popularity of the 1996 Robin Tunney/Neve Campbell 'witch flick' - "The Craft".

Despite having the most awful cover for a DVD I have ever seen, coupled with that terrible title - this more than exceeded low expectations. Even though this was obviously done on a shoestring, it has to be said that the special effects were better than average.

I thought it had an interesting storyline and maybe with a little better script, more character development, and a bigger budget this idea would have made an excellent teen flick.

1 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

4/10

Carrie with Goths!

SpookyAtTheDriveIn20 October 2006

Warning: Spoilers

As soon as this movie started, I realised I wasn't in for a high budget blockbuster type. For one it was 2am and I was watching cable. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know. The plot revolves around Reese,an introverted high schooler who looks like he shops primarily at Goths R' Us. He is tormented by memories of his Mother committing suicide for some unknown reason. Despite being quite a likable guy and despite being blessed with cute good looks,Reese is a social outcast. Possibly because he wears dark clothing,we may never know. Just to add to the "teen-angst",Reese is a talented artist who has more candles in his room than any church should. During one lonely lunchtime being tormented by jocks,Reese is befriended by fellow outcast Phobe,a flower-child eco-warrior who is unexplainably best friends with a fiery girl named Ashley and her genius brother Zack. They all go for a drive after school to hang out in a forest (because all teenager do that,y'know),where they stumble across a glowing rock which Zack quickly identifies will give them special powers. And you can guess what happens next....think Carrie meets The Craft. They take "revenge" on the people who have tormented them, which in Ashleys case is all the boys who have refused to have sex with her. She's looser than Courtney Love,this girl,and cruelly takes Reeses' virginity in the middle of some trees half an hour in. Soon Ashley is overcome with the power and everything turns very,very Carrie. There are lot's of things to like about this movie.One being cute little Reese,he can't act much but he's nice to look at. Two being that the movie bounces along happily like a techno music video and doesn't really drag at all. Before looking the movie up on IMDb,I was under the believe that this was a mid-nineties project considering the special effects are very dated. Ultimately the movie is very stilted in that it falls into ALL the teenage movie cliché's. Introverted,black-clad,depressed protagonist? Check. Rebel bad girl? Check. Maths genius who can explain away everything? Check.Plus,the friendship between the four leads is just sooo damn unbelievable.Movie directors have got to get it into their heads that these varied groups of oddballs don't exist in high schools. Goths like Goths. Hippies like hippies. Nothing inbetween. In the real world, Ashley would have beaten Phobe up years ago. Still, this is a pretty entertaining movie and the really ironic thing is that The Source is a million times better than anything teenage Hollywood has barfed out in years.

0 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

5/10

Funky

lawrencescreamer13 October 2001

I rented this film expecting two things: shoddy affects, and a crap story-line. I got the first one. The acting in this film is a bit wooden, at the beginning, and the actors feel awkward as they act. Also the atmosphere at the school isn't right. It just doesnt feel right. The movies high point is when the four find there powers and start using them (only softly) on their fellow classmates. One of the foursome tells a girl to pick her nose, and that made me laugh. I rented this film on DVD, and the sound of the voice was said so out of sync it got irritating. At first I wondered if it was a swiss film, then realized that it was just cheap film-making. Any ways, I would rate this movie 6.5/10 for quite a funny story, and some funny parts. The annoying thing about this film is that it is so serious, but you can't take it seriously. It isn't anything special, but worth a watch, if you can't find anything else. If you find this film crap don't blame me because I had the choice of this or Dude Where's My Car? Can you blame me for renting this out? This film is listed at the 'secret gift' in England, so I found that irritating when I looked it up, and I found zilch. It is actually called The Source. One last thing, parts of it are truly stolen from the excellent The Craft, where I think this movie got its inspiration from. I would rate The Craft 9/10, so obviously the Craft was MUCH better. Thankyou!!666

0 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

7/10

Enjoyable Low Budget Teens-With-Powers Flick

winkies8 March 2005

The Surge gave me far more than I expected from a direct-to-DVD low budget picture. Even the special effects--while certainly cheesier compared to a big budget flick like X-Men--were pretty decent, all things considered. And the soundtrack, which includes Marilyn Manson riffs and lots of hardcore techno, was surprisingly good.

The new kid at school, a relentlessly harassed Goth (the smoldering Matthew Scollon), hooks up with other misfits--a computer whiz-kid, his out-of-control bratty sister, and a nerdy-but-sweet hippie chick--and harness the mysterious power of some glowing stones. Much like the X-Men, each teen has a particular "super ability", whether it be psychic, "persuasive," telekinetic, or healing.

The acting is hit-and-miss, stand-outs being Melissa Renee Martin as the caustic Ashley (seemingly channeling Sherri Rappaport's performance from Little Witches six years earlier) and Alice Frank as the mild-mannered flower child Phoebe. Frankly, I expected more from the aforementioned Scollon as the Gothic Reese--sometimes he hits just the right amount of pathos & angst, and sometimes it's like he's simply phoning his performance in. But he's nice to look at.

The similarities between this film and earlier teens-with-powers-get-revenge films such as Mirror Mirror, Carrie, and most especially The Craft are very strong. There are aspects of the plot and even dialog in this film that seem to be lifted ("inspired') from The Craft directly--and yet the overall message of The Surge is a bit more positive than that film. While the movie certainly has its share of tense teen-revenge moments & violence, it's not as nihilistic as the DVD box art would have you believe.

Definitely worth a rental or cable viewing, especially if you've got a tolerance for lower budget horror & sci-fi movies like I do.

1 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

10/10

Way Cool Movie! Loved it!:)

moogiepart227 January 2003

I just recently watched The Surge (or the Source) and I was so pleased with it. I actually have it rented out at two different Blockbusters at once because I watched it with several of my friends by my home (whom all liked it) and when I went to work they all wanted to see it so I had to go get it from a different one for them (they all liked it too). I love two different types of movies; paranormal power movies such as X-men and ones when the underdogs get some revenge like Romy and Michele. This had both:)! Some may feel that teenagers are cruel but not that cruel, they must be over-mean for the movie...hello from my school. This is a picture-perfect reflection of my high school days, teachers (who play favorites and least favorites) and students (bullies, nerds, jocks, gothic, and rich snobs). All schools have these cliques so I think everyone can identify with one of the four main characters. Being an underdog my whole school existence I loved the fact that these four got back at some of their oppressors. It may be a "B" movie, as some label it, and although some of the effects weren't spectacular I must say one of the coolest effects I've ever seen on screen came from this movie. You'll just have to watch it to find out. A tad cheesy at some points but who said it would win an Oscar. A movies job is to entertain someone for 2 hours or so and I was very entertained, I even cheered at some points in the movie. I liked the cast alot, the plot, and especially the music. Oh, how I love techno. My only complaint is there is no soundtrack available cause I so want the music from this movie. Final words on the matter: I would highly recommend this movie!!

8 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

6/10

Actually this film is not to bad

hellboundsyco5 July 2006

All in all this film is not as tripe as i had first thought. Being a big fan of "The Craft" i saw this VHS sitting in my friends bedroom and asked to borrow it. thinking it might follow along the same lines as the Craft. but i really didn't. it has its own unique story line, and a good selection of cast. This film is a proper teen movie, with OK sfx and not a bad story line. The acting from time to time is a bit canned and not very expressive but if you look past this, you will see that this film has great potential. i wouldn't recommend watching this if your really expecting something fantastic, but if your a little boerd and fancy watching something a little supernatural then go ahead and rent/buy this, you shouldn't be to disappointed.

1 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Your "Source" for Sci-Fi Excitement

gilgamesh-28 August 2004

Warning: Spoilers

SPOILER!!! Oh, man. If you like shots of actors hovering in midair and glowing like crazy, you are going to LOVE this movie. Seriously, this is a kind of amusing science fiction romp that could have been about half an hour shorter. Highlights include:

Nearly every scene features a cool mirror-ball like dappled light playing over the actors.

The protagonist, Reese the Goth, listens over and over again to a song that is almost, but not quite, that Marilyn Manson song that was really popular in 1998.

There's a wonderful scene where Reese first goes to his new high school. Reese is an outfit that might be considered gothy if you consider any outfit with black in it gothy, but all the wholesome students immediately start shrieking at him and asking if it's halloween. Fortunately, it looks like the costumers raided Hot Topic for the rest of his outfits, which are unambiguously goth.

Ashley, the mean, punky girl, dresses like she is from the dystopic future of Japan.

There's a wonderful subplot involving some bearded guy in a garage who knows all about computers ans psychic phenomena and looks kind of like the director of Lord of the Rings.

Reese gets to come to terms with his mother's suicide through the magic of glowing rocks-powered psychic combat. I guess that was a SPOILER!!!!

In conclusion, this is a wonderful way to pass an hour and a half or so. If you can watch it with friends, you'll have an awesome time, or you can just sit alone in a darkened room watching it and sobbing to yourself! It's a SCREEN GEM!!!!

2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

7/10

I must be the only guy who actually enjoyed this

zathina_mage2 July 2009

Myself and a group of my friends had just watched it today. We actually enjoyed it a lot. Though during the movie we acknowledged the acting was bad, we generally agreed it sure as hell beat Twilight by far (especially in the acting). The concept is a cool idea, and the characters could of been done better. I have to say the plot had a few points were me and my friends simply sat back and enjoyed it, and other points were we couldn't stand it because of the sheer unrealistic social interactions. In my school, if bullies had ever been that direct they would of been met with more physical and verbal resistance from the local outcast populations.

But in all, it's not a movie for everybody. It's just a movie for small bands of outcast teens to chuckle at and enjoy amongst friends. Not really for movie goers or someone looking for anything truly epic.

0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

10/10

Excellent

rjoker724 January 2003

This film was extremely well done, especially for a low budget project. I rented this movie based solely on the description on the back of the box, having never heard of it before, and was rewarded with something that that grabbed my interest from the beginning and didn't let go; even at the very end, it left me wanting to see more. Anybody who was an outcast of any kind will be able to connect with at least one of the characters; I know I did. You can't help but wonder what you might have been able to do, had you been there.In short, this is an excellent film that is definitely deserving of rental or purchase. The only (possible) disappointment is that this might be all we get to see.

3 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

User Reviews

See also

Opinion

Details

Storyline

Did You Know?

Photo & Video

Related Items

User Lists

Recently Viewed