Stylish but barely mediocre overall

One of the best films i have seen

Dreadfully Boring

Charming and brutal

Let's be honest: We all watched OCTANE because it starred Madeline Stowe, she of BLINK and MOHICANS fame. But what a comedown this appears to have been for the once-intriguing Ms. Stowe, who here plays the troubled mom of a troubled teenage daughter who runs off with a cult. Mom of course immediately goes after daughter. Wouldn't you? Unfortunately, I did not get all the way through to the end, and will have to watch this oddly titled film again. What I saw started off with a David Lynchian, weirdo sort-of bang but quickly headed downhill as Ms. Stowe transforms from a neurotic, skinny lady with a truly disturbing hairdo to the new Lara Croft as she hunts down her crazy kid. As for Ms. Stowe's bizarre and unflattering haircut (you have to see it to believe it), I attribute to the film being shot in Dutch-land, where bizarre haircuts are pretty commonplace. I would be surprised to hear OCTANE ever made it to theaters here. Poor Ms. Stowe. Looks like she may be joining Wesley Snipes, Steven Segall and Jean-Claude Van Damme in the twilight world of STVs. How brightly shone her star at one time!

Totally sucked. Boring. Awful. Ridiculous. Stupid. Exercise in wasting celluloid. Waste of Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Barton - always horrible. Barton - talentless. Stowe - surprised she'd do such tripe. Tedius. Wanting of plot. Wanting of a story. Wanting of good writing. Wanting of good direction. Wanting of art direction. Wanting of anything good. WANTING. WANTING. Totally sucked. Boring. Awful. Ridiculous. Stupid. Exercise in wasting celluloid. Waste of Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Barton - always horrible. Barton - talentless. Stowe - surprised she'd do such tripe. Tedius. Wanting of plot. Wanting of a story. Wanting of good writing. Wanting of good direction. Wanting of art direction. Wanting of anything good. WANTING. WANTING.

While a lot of people are going to disagree with me, I think "Octane" (aka "Pulse") is an underrated horror movie. The film begins with a horrible car accident scene, where a dying man is suffering within the wreckage. A squad of impostor medical workers show up on the scene, but soon scramble to leave the scene after the actual medical crew arrives. We are then introduced to Senga Wilson (Madleine Stowe) and her teenage daughter, Natalie (Mischa Barton), who are on a late-night road trip on their way back home. Senga gets tired at the wheel, nearly crashing the car, but insists that she's fine and that they need to get home because Nat has school the next morning. After convincing her mother to stop, Nat and Senga enter a truck stop for a coffee-break. The people within the truck stop seem a little weird too. After picking up a disappearing hitchhiker (Bijou Phillips), Senga and Nat get into a heated argument, and Natalie runs off with the hitchhiker (who re-appears) and a group of strange people. Now it's up to Senga to get her daughter back from the blood-letting cult, with the help of a truck-driver (Norman Reedus) who also is aware of the psychotic blood-drinkers.The whole film's idea and premise is intriguing, albeit a little strange. While this film may seem like a clichéd horror flick, "Octane", also known as "Pulse" from the video release, has a lot more going for it. The story is fairly well-written, the cinematography is very stylish and adds an eerie texture to the movie, the music is surreal and fitting, and the performances were all-around well done. The foreboding atmosphere of no escape is extremely consistent throughout the film, giving the movie a surreal and nightmarish feeling that works for the film's benefit. The entire thing almost seems like one big bad dream that you can't escape, and I think that is what made this film so interesting to me. The movie was nicely shot and has some really eerie sequences tied into the plot, mostly Senga's encounters with the bizarre, extensive group of cult members that seem to run the entire area, mostly in the strange little off-road truck stops along the way. The opening is a great start, and the last twenty minutes or so- while they are a little strange - work out well and were all the more bizarre. Madeleine Stowe and Mischa Barton have surprisingly good chemistry, and play their roles as the troubled single-mother and the rebellious, bratty teenage daughter. I like both Stowe and Barton as actresses, and they do a good job here. The rest of the cast gives good performances also, nothing I saw was necessarily bad.Although "Octane" has a few minor flaws (mostly some of the semi-confusing material that the plot revolves around and leaves unexplained), the film is done with a distinct surreal style, and uses some great imagery and a haunting score. While most people disagree, I think this film isn't nearly as bad as the reputation it seems to have. Granted, it's one strange movie, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. 7/10.

Also...i think this film is too short. first i didn't understand it, because everything changes too fast. for example why was the trucker first bad and then good...or why kissed Natalie Jonathan Rhys - Meyers and then he tries to kill her???! that makes no sense. i didn't understand well, what the cult tries to do. there is a video-game, an accident and the mystery of the cult. by the way, the persons didn't speak much...it was always action but nobody talked! however, my opinion is, the film is good (and very thrilling!) but is not easy to understand what the cult wants to do with Natalie. i think "octane" is for everybody who likes horror and likes to see much blood...