Here we go with another round with Big Spence, time to finish what we started. This is the last Big Spence film I’ll be reviewing (at least until he puts out something new in the future) and boy, did we save something special for last. State of Consciousness is like the “Big Budget” film of Touch the Heart Productions, with a wide variety of cool looking locations and extras. Marcus Spencer also worked with a different cinematographer and editor for this one, making for some improvements in those areas. But the sound work for the dialogue still suffers in this one at times. (So baby turn on those closed captions)

Eduardo mentioned that Catfished was inspired by watching 90’s comedies and he wanted to make a feel-good movie. The film is about three friends who dive into dating apps, hoping for romance, but their experiences turn out to be far more unexpected than planned. (Hence the title of the film). The three main subplots all do have a unique take on catfishing. You have the guy who doesn’t look like his online picture, a man who lies about his job and a girl who shows up pregnant with twins. 

All right, I’m back for another round of Big Spence action. If you have been following along, I had a good time with the flawed but charming murder mystery of “A Murder in Oakland: Beauty is Deadly”. But then was almost put to sleep with “Who Needs It?”, a therapy experiment that misfired and missed the mark. So I wasn’t to sure what to expect with Tormented Revenge. But the good news is, the characters are not confined to their chairs and one location for the whole movie, so we’re off to a much better start with this one.

In this movie, Marcus Spencer and Eduardo Castrillo decided to experiment with a “Tell, don’t show” approach. You have to enjoy the opening logos where for some reason, Touch The Heart Productions has two different logos shown, and the opening credits which uses exterior drone shots of the bay area. Because after that, we are trapped in ONE location for the rest of the film. The therapist room.

A Murder in Oakland does get right to the point, opening up with a girl Mercedes getting strangled to death in a park in board daylight. The murder then gets pinned on the Seaside killer, a guy who strangled four other women. But something doesn’t sit right with Mercedes death as the Seaside killer is not taking credit for this one, and so it’s up Detective Williams and his new panther to find out the truth behind her death. Sounds great on paper, but the films execution is lacking in this “whodunnit’ mystery.

The plot ends with a twist, as most of these movies in this genre do. It’s predictable, but it does the job. The film has a lean runtime of 66 mins, so nothing drags on to long. The small cast of actors is devoid of any real bad acting. Intrusive just needed more of a strong start, as I feel as it is now, people will hop off of it before they get to the better 2^nd half.

Dark Feathers: Dance of the Geisha does have some interesting ideas on paper. The film follows Kate, who is a ballroom dancer. Seems like a normal hobby right? Only problem is, each of her dance partners who has taken a interest in her have disappeared or died. Remy, a private investigator, decides to take interest in Kate and see where the mystery goes. The film combines samurai culture with ballroom dancing, and the potential is there, but the film can’t quite fire on all cylinders.

Well you at least gotta give Eduardo Castrillo props for trying such a ambitious idea. Bears on a Ship is obviously a parody on Snakes on a Plane, even with a character in this film riffing on the famous line by shouting “I’m tired of these mother&$%& bears on this mother&$%& $^% ship!”. The film doesn’t take it self seriously and really does not have a deep narrative to it per say, as the title suggests the movie puts a bunch of stranded travelers onto a ship and then there are bears that attack people.

Michael Fredianelli returns to the western genre for the 4^th time in his 60^th feature film. What can I say, guy has a love for the filth and grime of the western age. Bury ‘Em Deep stars Robert Broniz, who plays Link Maddock. Link is a fitting name for the character, as Robert Broniz feels like a video game protagonist of few words. He wonders around as he meets a cast of eccentric people who often monologue to fill the silence on his journey. He doesn’t have much dialogue, and his Hungarian accent does make some of his delivery hard to understand.  I recommend watching this one with closed captions.

Three Directors. Six Writers. Sixteen Producers. Eight Cinematographers. Five Editors. Taking a look at the credits for Gone with the Dead is quite crazy. This collaboration has been in development since 2017 since my knowledge and finally sees the light of day. How did it turn out? It's a bit all over the place. 

Stupid Games is an interesting take on the board game horror genre. Directed by Nicolas Wendl and Dani Abraham, the film is about a game night which goes horribly wrong.

Wild Dogs Productions returns to end the year with their lasted film, Frist Rites. Their 58th Feature length and 3rd film for 2024. This film sees them going full on guerilla filmmaking in the state of New York and New Jersey. This change of location does help add to an exotic vibe and tone and is fun to see.

Sorry, We're Dead is a relatable film if you ever had to balance your corporate life with your artistic pursuits. The film centers around Lana Jing, who is just trying to survive her everyday boring lecture recording job when trying to submit her screenplays. She has to battle rejection, overcoming the odds and standing up for herself during her journey. Being a artist these days is not easy.

Bittertooth is one of those movies that has a pretty cool concept in mind, but has trouble with the execution. The story follows two female true-crime podcasters who talk about and track down a serial killer. It’s like a detective story that is influence by all of those true crime podcasts you hear now a days.

This is a film that was produced and filmed in Colorado with a crew based out there so I had to check it out. (Colorado is my home state and a cool place with mountains). Wesley Clark's first outing at a feature film is a functional one, but it's definitely missing something.

It’s cool to see indie film directors embrace the comedy genre, as not many do. In the film, our main character, Eric O'Bannon ventures on a road trip in an attempt to prove to everyone that he's still got his magic mojo. With the help of a talented, yet troubled teen and an eccentric drifter, they maneuver through the paranormal, mixing lessons in life with hysterical outcomes.

Here we have a film directed by Monte Light entitled Blood Covered Chocolate, being described as a homage to the one-hundred-year-old F.W. Murnau classic Nosferatu. So when a recovering drug-addict named Massimo is bitten by an ancient, shapeshifting monster, he must fight to save his girlfriend Tien from the same bloody fate. Overall the film plays with the usual vampire tropes that we all know with a few spins.

Here we are with Wild Dogs Productions 53rd feature film, The Perfect Hand. In this film, Michael Fredianelli returns to his comfort zone of the western genre. The film centers around a sharp-shooting sheriff who tracks down a con artist and his henchmen that took his hand in a rigged poker game.