Lonely crime scene photographer Aiden (Josh Lawson), after years of taking pictures of murder victims on the decaying streets of Detroit, is fast losing his grip. Retreating into fantasy as a mechanism to cope with capturing the horrific images that make him a living, he imagines himself as the hero of the hour in various daydreams. Increasingly under pressure from the conflicting voices in his head, his dark, vengeful side grows along with a simmering frustration at his own cowardice and social awkwardness. After meeting attractive neighbour Virginia (Emma Lung) and sparking a curious relationship with her, Aiden becomes ever bolder in attempting to make his daydreams a reality. However, being the hero isn't quite as easy as he has imagined it to be.Crave initially begins with a stylish appearance and swathes of jet black yet gleefully malevolent humour. However, the character of Aiden is very underwritten, despite a strong performance from Lawson and this seems to be the story of the film as a whole. From it's visually arresting and intriguing opening, the film quickly finds itself going nowhere.There is little meat to the bones of the script with the storyline just plodding around, seemingly waiting for some time to pass so it can get to the final third. Director Charles de Lauzarika would appear to have thrown everything at the final half hour or so, with things getting increasingly ludicrous as the possibly schizophrenic Aiden blunders from one catastrophe to the next. The problem is, with so little attention being given to the script and direction of the middle third of the movie, you increasingly find yourself becoming rather disinterested as the plot is meandering and lacking in substance for much of the running time.This is a shame really, as there are flashes throughout of de Lauzarika's flair and inventiveness, helping to sometimes bring the film out of mediocrity. Unfortunately, Ron Perlman is wasted as Aiden's homicide detective friend, as well as the increasingly bizarre Edward Furlong. Lung does well as Aiden's love interest, however all the supporting parts are as woefully underwritten as the lead character's. The soundtrack to the movie is just as skeletal, all synths with plenty of treble and reverb, but with nothing that you would ever recall.Stylistically, Crave is a nicely filmed piece of work, with strong cinematography and a moody yet macabre feel. However, it's rendered distinctly average fare thanks to such a threadbare script that not even a talented cast like this can get much out of. Ultimately, Crave is as entirely soulless as the crime ridden streets in which it's set.

What we crave is a better movie! The previews set this thing up to look like a film version of Dexter, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The story follows a crime scene photographer who had enough of the injustice of the world and the horrible things he sees. He fantasizes about become a vigilantly and doing the things the police can't do, but there's a problem. He doesn't have any balls. The story presented in the previews and on the back of the box is just a description of the back story. The actual film centers around a love story, that doesn't exist. Photographer Aiden (Josh Lawson) is having sex with his neighbor Virginia (Emma Lung) who is half his age. Aiden believes he's fallen in love and obsesses over Virginia, but all she sees him as is a friend with benefits. Josh Lawson stars and he was actually pretty good, but what's the point of being good in a film that doesn't make any sense. Lines come out of nowhere and entire scenes occur that leave the audience wondering if it's really happening or just another of Aiden's fantasies. Perhaps, the worst part of this film is the narration. While Lawson does give a good performance, his character narrates his thoughts throughout the film, a jumbled mess of ridiculousness that gets old by the 30 minute mark. While there are a couple of interesting scenes, a solid performance by the lead, and one of my favorite actors, Edward Furlong, Crave is just one big mess of confusion that is most definitely not worth your time.

No, Aiden. This is real"Crave" is a pretty dark and gloomy movie. It's a precise characterization of the photographer Aiden (Josh Lawson). He makes pictures of victims at a crime scene, as a hobby or as a job (That wasn't entirely clear to me). As the film progresses, it's obvious that he has a kind of split personality and imagines himself to be a guardian angel in a society that is desolate, violent and ruthless. One time he sees himself as the protector of a girl on the subway who got hassled by two punks. Another day he fantasizes that he uses a sledge hammer on some guy who is talking disturbingly loud to someone else at an AA meeting. Actually these are all situations everyone goes through once and a while and where we think about afterwards and wonder how it would be if we reacted in such a way like Aiden did. At a certain moment Aiden dares to protest against a pushy woman in a supermarket. Afterwards you see him driving home with a satisfied smile. He always meets the same detective Pete (Ron Perlman) at a crime scene or an AA meeting. Both are converted alcoholics and I guess for a long time already non-drinkers. Perlman plays his character sober and restrained. He's not afraid to bury Aiden under a lot of advice and life skills.Aiden meets his neighbor Virginia (Emma Lung) who has a complicated relationship with Ravi (Edward Furlong). The latter still has the youthful appearance since "Terminator 2". Aiden and Virginia start a turbulent relationship, although Virginia rather keeps a distance. They break up after attending an abstract play where Aiden couldn't help to make a remark about it (Actually I would make the same remark in such a situation). From that moment on it clearly goes the wrong way. The revolver, which he took after a robber left it behind, turns out to be a deadly weapon in his hands.Josh Lawson plays his role beautifully. He's really a sad character who can be funny and witty sometimes , but at the same time leaves a melancholic and depressive impression. This would-be hero is ultimately a coward. Charles de Lauzerika manages to make an obscure dark movie. Until the end of the movie this was the overall atmosphere you felt about this movie : Dark,gloomy and depressing. Until the moment Furlong gets out his body-bag and gives a thumbs-up gesture. That changed the whole atmosphere of the movie and gave it at that time an absurdly sinister turn. There's a scene in the movie I thought was a brilliant masterpiece. When Aiden finally manages to conquer Virginia and ends up in bed with her, we go back to the moment where it all started, and we assume that it was a fantasy again. Then Aiden stares at the camera and says : "No, Aiden This is real.". Damn surprising and funny! Many will see this as a boring slow movie without any action. I thought it was a strong effort to show the process of how someones fantasy world slowly becomes reality. Without the twist at the end and a less open ending, I would have appreciated it more. The thing I still need to mention is the fact that I didn't expect a chainsaw gore-element in this kind of movie. Nice though !More reviews at : http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be or http://meningvanfilmfreak.blogspot.be

Being from Australia I thought this Josh Lawson Movie would have been good...Don't waste your time watching it as It is below average...The story line is Carp.... and the Movie is Crap... if you watch this you have wasted a good few Hours that you could have watched something else. The movie has a lot to answer for and Josh Lawson also has a lot to answer for. I have no idea why I watched this as The movie should have been so much better. I do like the actor but.... My god Why did he do this Crap Film ? This is only my opinion But I feel this is a BAD Movie>