The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

A poker game gone sour? A backstabbing? And a double cross? Bare in mind all this happens in under fifteen minutes. When two rednecks decide to take matters into their own hands, mayhem soon follows.The story follows Chuck and Mitch, two brother out to get their own when they decide the bag of certain goods is all theirs for the taking. But the plan for a quick getaway soon falls apart when they high-tail it through the woods. As a member of a group of campers finds more then she bargain for. Soon after one by one the campers are hunted as a game of cat and mouse unfolds.Overall I found myself compelled by the story. Not bad for a b-movie made up mostly by newcomers.

This month, Finders Keepers: The Root of All Evil (2013) has been released nationally and Online. Some of the best movies ever made were produced either on a shoestring budget or practically no budget at all. I found the movie well written, timely in light of the economy and nonstop, unpredictable action.But rarely do you find a good horror film, where the producer, has a near zero budget and crew to make a film, but also takes the calculated risk of casting actors with little or no experience. The acting and directing exceeded my expectations.I do not want to give away the movie, which is about a group of real losers, who bring their law breaking activity into the hectic lives of a group of 20 somethings, who are innocently celebrating a birthday.The movie is chilling, quite realistic and suspenseful. The entire 90 minute story explodes like a firecracker and gives you a real feel for the dark forest since it was shot in the woods in Wilmington, NC. I highly recommend Finders Keepers: The Root of All Evil (2013).

Rented Finders Keepers tonight on Amazon and I was pleasantly surprised! I've been hearing about this project for awhile from the people I know who are actually attached to the project. After hearing how this film was put together I'm incredibly impressed.The film was shot for a nearly non-existent budget and a three man crew. A three man crew. Three people, the director, the DP and one other guy.90% of the actors attached to this project had never acted before in their lives. Never acted before. This was their first time in front of a camera. OK now into the movie: We jump in to a poker game. During the game, a pair of criminals bust in and take the money. They then meet their boss in the woods to split up the spoils. Of course they have to double cross their "boss" and are subsequently caught by a park ranger. They have to ditch the loot and plan on coming back later to get it.Cut to the protagonists, a bunch of young adults going camping in the woods.While in the woods one of the girls finds the money and she hides it so she can return later to retrieve it.The criminals return to pick up the cash, and find it's missing.The res of the movie is a game of cat and mouse. The criminals decide that since the kids can't take them to the money, they might as well hunt them like animals for sport.I love how once the chase begins it doesn't slow down again. The actors and the camera are always moving! -----------------------------SPOILER ALERT-------------------------- I also love how EVERYONE DIES. It's unexpected and leaves you staring at the screen thinking: wait, what? hold on, the all die? Greed is deadly, great way to end it!The only qualms I really have about the film are the blood splatters. They're a bit cheesy... But it's a B Horror movie, isn't it supposed to be cheesy?? All is forgiven.I was thoroughly entertained throughout the entire movie (ok well maybe not when the kids and hanging by the campfire...) But the rest of the movie was fun, fast paced, and easy to follow.While this is by no means my favorite horror film of all time, I have to give this movie a glowing recommendation. The cast and crew were able to produce and DISTRIBUTE a pretty decent product when they had almost NO resources. I applaud their hard work and determination and I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

I'm usually pretty forgiving about indie films, but this one is a mess. Everyone is obviously trying hard -- the actors (mostly first-timers) do a creditable job, and there are some interesting directorial choices, but the script and story just ruins it.The film starts with a robbery of a rich guy at a poker game. Apparently, in 2013, rich guys still bring huge amounts of cash strapped in bank bundles. Two punks steal the money and go out to the woods to meet the mastermind of the heist, who they promptly double-cross. They are found by a game warden, so they hide the cash with the intent of coming back later to get it.We then meet our protagonists, two twenty-something couples who are going out camping. They frolic for a while, and one of the girls finds the money and hides it with the intent of sneaking back and getting it.The two punks show up, see the money is gone, figure that the girl took it. So they pull the four of them out of their tent and threaten them to get their money. The girl forgets where she put it, so the punks do what anybody would do in that situation -- they forget all about the money and just let the four of them go. Then, after they let them go, they decide to run after them to try to kill them.Realize -- it's never explained why the punks decide to suddenly give up on finding their loot after it was the most important thing in the world to them. There's no explanation why these city punks would want to try to chase the kids through the woods. They just do.And from then on, the film -- which wasn't all that together to begin with -- just falls apart. The four kids are as loud as can be, and the punks can walk straight by them without noticing. It seems like these woods are some sort of parallel universe -- a girl can start to run, the punk runs right after her. She runs into her friends, has a nice long conversation, does some stuff, then runs off and winds up out of the woods. In all the time, one of the punks is still running after her. I'd be OK suspending disbelief if it was exciting, but it was just odd and confusing.And a final complaint. The movie is really barely a movie. The running time is 1 hour and 13 minutes. The movie is over at the 1 hour mark. They then make the credit crawl really crawl verrrrrrry slooooooooowly, so that it takes the final 13 minutes of the movie for the credits to roll. As I said, I like to support indies and there is a lot of good effort here, but I can't recommend it.