Harvesters live among us, vampiric ghoulish predators that feed off our fear and pain, even killing so that they can receive that major high their addictions so desire. For some reason, Ian Stone(Mike Vogel)is sent through a variety of lives, a hockey player, office rat, taxi driver, junkie, and quadriplegic. Each life grows worse than the last as Ian is stalked by beings who can take the shape of humans, their true forms existing within a black mist, eyes blazing a ferocious red. Yet, Ian has a mysterious ally who informs him that he must protect Jenny(Christina Cole), a pretty blond who seems to exist in every life as a potential love interest. Ian's main nemesis is Medea(Jaime Murray, who looks quite sexy in tight black, and red, leather), a malevolent harvester who is wanting to know something he's supposedly hiding..it has to do with an act against the harvesters and Ian is suffering life to life for whatever it is. Will Ian be able to protect Jenny from these creatures or give up the secret he has buried so deep within? There is a legitimate reason why Ian doesn't truly die. This reason he's so sought after is becoming more and more clear from lifetime to lifetime.
I will admit that I was a bit frustrated for a while due to how this film was unfolding. Moving from one life to the next, I think we're supposed to be bewildered because the viewer is confronting the same scenarios as Ian. The whole point, I felt, was that the viewer is to experience what Ian is..it's an unfolding mystery as we learn why he's going through each situation, and how Jenny is a part of this, unlocking through each perilous battle(..and death). Unlike many, I thought the harvesters were rather neat creatures..I guess you could describe them as smog-ish, they almost exist within a ominous cloud of smoke, with these angered faces and enraged eyes, charging at victims(..and, most importantly, Ian)scaring folks, with their fear *exiting* from their mouths and feeding the predators. The premise will be undoubtedly silly to many, even cheesy perhaps. The scenes where Ian is locked into a neck harness as Medea and her co-horts torture him reminded me of "Jacob's Ladder". When the harvesters often attack, their hand forms into a crustacean type of claw as they slice or stab victims. When they are actually stabbed(..by their own), we see the harvesters vaporize. The film itself looks great thanks to Stefano Morcaldo's polished professional cinematography. And, Elia Cmiral's music score gives the film an immediacy as Ian often runs for his life. The action scenes are given much more tension, also, thanks to Cmiral's work. I will say that the film's structure is liable to test many a viewer's patience, but I thought this worked as popcorn escapist fare. I do think director Dario Piana aspires to create much more than just *escapist fare*, but the complex nature of it all can be quite a nuisance. At best this is a play on the "cat with nine lives" theme with evil fear-sucking ghouls thrown in the mix.
I will admit that I was a bit frustrated for a while due to how this film was unfolding. Moving from one life to the next, I think we're supposed to be bewildered because the viewer is confronting the same scenarios as Ian. The whole point, I felt, was that the viewer is to experience what Ian is..it's an unfolding mystery as we learn why he's going through each situation, and how Jenny is a part of this, unlocking through each perilous battle(..and death). Unlike many, I thought the harvesters were rather neat creatures..I guess you could describe them as smog-ish, they almost exist within a ominous cloud of smoke, with these angered faces and enraged eyes, charging at victims(..and, most importantly, Ian)scaring folks, with their fear *exiting* from their mouths and feeding the predators. The premise will be undoubtedly silly to many, even cheesy perhaps. The scenes where Ian is locked into a neck harness as Medea and her co-horts torture him reminded me of "Jacob's Ladder". When the harvesters often attack, their hand forms into a crustacean type of claw as they slice or stab victims. When they are actually stabbed(..by their own), we see the harvesters vaporize. The film itself looks great thanks to Stefano Morcaldo's polished professional cinematography. And, Elia Cmiral's music score gives the film an immediacy as Ian often runs for his life. The action scenes are given much more tension, also, thanks to Cmiral's work. I will say that the film's structure is liable to test many a viewer's patience, but I thought this worked as popcorn escapist fare. I do think director Dario Piana aspires to create much more than just *escapist fare*, but the complex nature of it all can be quite a nuisance. At best this is a play on the "cat with nine lives" theme with evil fear-sucking ghouls thrown in the mix.