The Spring (2000)

Interesting concept but could have been better

First off, I am a big George Eads fan, which is the primary reason I got this film. That being said, I think it was an interesting and rather intriguing concept but slowed and lagged after 45 minutes. The first half is very good especially how the town is introduced to us and how the director shows the intrigue build when we see the notebook with the dates of when people died. But after that is seems to lose itself and the climax was rather flat considering the build up leading to it. I expected something on the same level as the Lottery. I also thought that the son had a stronger moral and ethical streak in him than the father, whom I thought was being kind of selfish. I didn't think it was a great film but it wasn't bad enough that I wouldn't recommend it. Just don't expect much. March 16, 2008

A mediocre thriller

For some reason, everything I've been watching lately or reading has something to do with age, and the fact that people cannot deal with aging or death. Everyone wants to live forever, at the cost of everything and everyone else, at the cost of social conscience and personal conscience (spirit, spirituality, etc.) This film struck these same chords. Basically a sort of made-for-tv drama, or else some straight to video type movie, it was listed somewhere else as a horror film, but it really isn't, it's more of a "thriller" than anything else. Would I recommend it? Well, if you like Kyle Machlachlan (he's okay as an actor, actually kind of classy, despite his stint with "Showgirls), then certainly rent this or buy this, but I can't say this film deserves four stars, it's rather mediocre. August 24, 2007

Pretty good for a TV movie.

Admittedly, I only bought this movie because I am a huge fan of CSI's George Eads. When the DVD arrived, I expected to enjoy it moderately. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Perhaps I'm biased because it was filmed in my home town of Fort Langley, BC (which at the time of purchase, I didn't realize) . . .

The acting is pretty good all around, I think. Some parts are cheesy and the story isn't exactly realistic, but it was a good movie to watch. All in all, I'm glad that I spent the $13 on it. I'll watch it again. July 12, 2007

Check garage sales for this title

There's no need to buy this one for under a dollar. Check garage sales in your area. Just as many made-for-tv movies, NBC took a nice premise into a 93 minute slow paced, ok plot, I'm ready to take a nap movie, B flick. Even tho I have watched it from beginning to end, the beginning part of the movie is laughable (need to congrat the director and the cutting team from not knowing right from left (and Kyle MacLachlin for not knowing how to pretend to swurve passably!).

It's the scene at the beginning when a guy steps out on the road and tries to flag down the van our main character and his son are in. Kyle yanks the steering wheel to the left (for that year and model van, the giant twists of the steering wheel would have made the top-heavy van go into a roll-over!). In the cut seen of the camera facing the van, the van immediately swurves over to the right (hmm... driver sits on the left side, turns the wheel counter-clockwise [left], and the van goes to the right.......)..... LOL Made it laughable at such an elementary mistake so early into the movie (not even two minutes into!).

If you find it at a sale price of a dollar, go ahead and pick it up. But I wouldn't waste any more than that on this movie. October 24, 2005

SPRING FEVER

This made for t.v. feature stars Kyle McLachlan (Twin Peaks, The Hidden) as a single father traveling across country with his son (Joseph Cross). A chance encounter with a strange couple with car trouble leads them to the quaint little town of Springville. Not such a bad place---everyone is young, and the reason is the titular spring, which acts as a sort of fountain of youth, with strings attached.
So as not to give away the plot's "secrets," suffice to say that Kyle finds out being young is not always being wise. Poor Kyle seems totally bored with his role and it's up to Alison Eastwood as the town doctor and George Eads as the local mechanic to bring some sort of life into this thinly structured plot. It's pleasantly gore free, and deaths are staged without blood and guts. It ends up being a less emphatic version of Shirley Jackson's classic short story, "The Lottery." But overall, not a bad movie, just nothing special. January 6, 2005

More reviews at Amazon.com ...