SYNOPSIS:
What if one of the best days of your life suddenly turned into your very worst nightmare? And what if you were forced to relive that same day again and again?
REVIEW:
The new film 6:45 is a horror movie directed by Craig Singer and written by Robert Dean Klein, adding another time rooted thriller to the mix of “Ground hog Day” style movies. But with that statement aside, we still welcome those repeat-rise again films with open arms as they are so much fun to experience (1998’s “Run Lola Run” also comes to mind).
A young couple Jules (Augie Duke) and her boyfriend Bobby (Michael Reed) take a much needed vacation to a seaside getaway town called Bog Grove. The picture perfect view is fantastic promising a stellar experience in a small town that seems to be at the moment mostly unoccupied. Their dream stay is greeted by the rather odd inn keeper Gene Armen Garo) who makes them feel right at home despite his unique personality and behaviors.
All seems to be going well despite the air of something strange lurking about, until Bobby begins to have reoccurring wake ups at 6:45 in the morning that revolve around his day being repeated again and again. Bobby now realizing that his deja vu feeling is more than just a coincidence becomes unraveled as he is able to repeat the events and discussion from the day before.
Before long, Bobby finds himself in a time loop with Jules as his day repeats ending with his and her death. A mysterious figure returns day after day despite what patterns are changed or how he chooses to approach the places and encounters around him.
Reviewing a film like is difficult without really going into its ending and how the events of the film play out.
Director Craig Singer is no stranger to the horror genre with past films such as “Dark Ride”, “Perkins 14” and cultish film “Animal Room” to his name.
I think that Singer did a really good job with creating suspense and engaging his audience designed to ride this experience out. With that said, I am not so sure that the ending was all that satisfying for me. Often films are created to not only tell a story but to reveal a greater truth thru its characters.
Bobby and Jules are those characters that Singer decide had a purpose to reveal here. I suppose the film says something about suppressing honesty and resolution, however I am not so sure that the last act really made alot of sense in regards to the ride 6:45 put us thru. Rather we find the multiple times becoming more annoying over time. Bobby does the whole “let’s try a different approach each day” routine leading up to a different reality than the one we have been building towards. That is all fine, but the monotony of their deaths grew way to old too fast.
We never really root for the characters taking us more on a depressing spiral of a resolve rather than one where we are surprised and misdirected. By that time, it feels like the while affair just needs to wrap up so we can hit the eject button. I give the film a C for its great camera work and ambition, but ultimately this film goes nowhere fast. Bobby and Jules become annoying just in the same way as his attitude becomes unhinged. I’m gonna has to pass on this one giving it a “nothing to see here” review in favor of more compelling stories. It had its fun, but the fun doesn’t last.