RESONANCE (Film Review)

                                        Starring: Max Croes, Nastassia Firestone

                                                     Directed by: Siar Sedig
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  Caveats can come in all shapes and sizes, but if one thing stands true about them - they do serve a purpose, even when getting ready to hit the "play" button on something that you feel you shouldn't be watching. I'll admit it's been a spell since I had reservations about checking out a particular film, especially considering the fact that I'll give damn near anything a chance, but something about director Siar Sedig's Resonance made me a bit leery. Call it the first impression of doom, the lurking sense of dread - whatever ya want to frame it as, but something seemed a bit askew about the entirety of this viewing instance...and I'll tell ya: if I played a lottery ticket I'd be swimming in the greenbacks right about now.

  Let's cut to the chase and get to the gritty deets on this one, shall we? It really is a very simple premise to swallow - two lovebirds - Max & Elena (Croes & Firestone) take their photographic wares to the deep woods for a little nature excursion, and the distance and desolation of their surroundings sets in rather quickly, thanks to some stellar cinematography. Sadly, that's where my horn-tootin' ceases - you see the instant beauty of this production gets swallowed up in some rather atrocious acting, inane plot-pathways and an ultimately unsatisfying conclusion. Now don't let me get ahead of myself, as there's more to set up here - you see it's not before long that our young duo in love finds out that their bungalow in the forest has virtually no cell reception, and an odder than odd noise that cuts through the sky like a deli-slicer on overdrive - it usually leads to the gushing of blood through the nose and ears, and a basic forgetfulness of what occurred the night before, but hey - nothing's going to deter this couple from snapping pics of trees, flowers and insects...UGGGH.

 I haven't even broken into the frightening theory that someone (or something) is making its way into the wooded abode every night, but Max just NEVER seems to want to notify the police, thus driving a wedge between he and his sweetheart. I'll stop at this point, but I'm sure you all can paint in the lines that I've laid down for you - remote location in the deep woods, strange beacon of noise that's unexplained, and a general sense of dread that cloaks the utter stupidity of our two main (and only) characters - classic example of a titanic swing and a miss at the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. At the risk of utilizing a very bad pun, this one just didn't resonate with me.

FILM SCORE: 2 out of 5