Spiral (2007)

One of the best in a while

I netflixed this movie on a whim, and I was pleasantly surprised! This film is great, I almost immediately bought it after seeing it. Expect to be surprised at the ending...even if you don't think you will be. This film has some Hitchcockian like tendancies. June 13, 2008

The Ending Earned This One Another Star

This film was going to get a three star review from me. The office environment where the main characters work was totally unrealistic. The boss drinks on the job and flirts with his female co-workers to such an extent he would have been fired for sexual harrassment. Mason, the main character, is so strange and unattractive it is hard to believe that the woman he becomes involved with would give him the time of day. This film was very different from "Hatchet". It was slow, moody, and very restrained whereas "Hatchet" was all about excess. I have to say that I was never really bored but I was checking the clock a few times. Then, the last ten minutes of the film hit me and earned this film an extra star. The double-twist ending did pack a punch. I think that it saved this film from mediocrity. May 4, 2008

Passable thriller undermined by implausibility

Spiral is a passable thriller that has its bits of cleverness, but overall is merely average. The principal character (played by Joel David Moore) is a telemarketer by day and artist by night who, as the movie opens, has apparently committed a murder. I say apparently because we never see a body and it's clear from the get-go that this guy is not all there. Also implied is that the victim was a waitress he seemed obsessed by.

Into his life comes a co-worker (Amber Tamblyn) who takes an instant shine to him and becomes the model for his latest set of paintings. The two become closer as he repeats his previous cycle of paintings featuring the waitress; will it end as badly?

While competently directed, acted and written, the movie also suffers from flaws. The big one is plausibility: I could never buy Tamblyn's character pursuing this guy: he is just too antisocial, and she is too attractive (in personality and appearance) to have him as the only option in her life.

Then there is the big plot twist at the end, which I (and probably many others) could see coming a mile away, followed by a second twist that, while clever, still stretches the credibility problems. The good and bad in Spiral balance out, making this a three star flick: not good enough to merit watching if something else is available, not bad enough to be a waste of time if you did see it.
April 27, 2008

In Your Head Freaky

Sprial was a decent movie. It wasn't really scary at all. I found that it was just freaky seeing what went on through the whole movie. The ending caught me off guard though. If you like pshycological mysteries then I would take this movie for a spin. April 19, 2008

A brilliant film that delivers even more than it promises

I'm used to liking certain films that seem to engender only a lukewarm response from a majority of viewers, but I have to draw a line in the sand when it comes to Spiral. This is a brilliant film on so many levels, an outré work of cinematic art that marches to the sound of its own uniquely discordant drum, pushing and pulling the viewer to an ending that does not disappoint in the slightest. I will grant the fact that the film moves at a leisurely pace that some might find boring, and people who have lived their whole lives immersed in the "in crowd" might look down their noses at the protagonist without even making an effort to sympathize with (let alone relate to) him, but this is a very human story that cuts far too wide a swath across the emotional landscape to be pigeonholed into any one constraining genre. Maybe some viewers were expecting more of an actual horror film along the lines of Hatchet, since Spiral reunites co-writer Joel David Moore and co-director Adam Green from that earlier project, but these guys are obviously true filmmakers devoted to their craft and determined to spread their wings rather than settle for churning out one slasher after another.

Spiral's story revolves around Mason (Joel David Moore), a troubled fellow who is so far out of the mainstream he makes me look normal and popular. Our first encounter with him shows just how vulnerable and possibly deranged he is, and this image is further reinforced by the mysterious dark secret lurking behind one of the doors in his apartment and the frightening visions that haunt his dreams. At work, he seems incapable of actually associating with anyone other than his boss and long-time friend Berkeley (Zachary Levi) - until, that is, a new employee named Amber (Amber Tamlyn) decides to join him on his lonely bench during lunch and strikes up a friendship with him. Amber's a hard nut to crack; spontaneous and outwardly emotional (not to mention hot), she's the very opposite of Mason, yet she obviously likes him despite all of his obvious problems. Their awkward friendship slowly grows into a more meaningful relationship when she begins posing for Mason, who is quite the artist. In fact, art seems to be the one safe refuge that Mason can cling to in life - actually, safe may not be the right word, for his sketches and paintings reveal troubling portents of obsession.

If you want every little thing explained to you in detail at the end, Spiral may not be your movie, but the whole story makes perfect sense. This is a film that could have ended very badly, but all of the painstaking detail and effort that went into the movie up until that point is more than aptly rewarded with a conclusion that I consider well-nigh perfect (and not necessarily predictable). I was particularly impressed by the symbolism built into the presentation, as it quietly magnifies the significance of everything that happens, especially in the closing moments. The film's jazz soundtrack helps maintain a surreal atmosphere that plays up the whole reality vs. fantasy angle that drives the story along (although it also reminded me just how much I detest light jazz). And all of that stuff about the story progressing so slowly in the beginning - it's called pacing, and I think it's spot-on in this case. The more you're able to wallow in the dysfunctional lives of these characters, the more effective the shock ending becomes.

In case you can't tell, I love this movie. I think it's a work of multi-faceted brilliance. April 17, 2008

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