I picked this up with no idea what to expect, overall I was not disappointed. The production values are pretty good, and the audio quality on my 5.1 system was excellent. Most low budget movies really fall down on the audio but this movie sounded great. Dark Reprieve held my attention for the entire time as I was truly intrigued by the two stories running at the same time. It can be hard to follow at times, however, I recommend that you stick with this one. If you only like Hollywood blockbusters then this movie probably isn't for you, but if you want to see some thing different and can watch with an open mind give this movie a try. To those ripping on the acting...get over it!! What are you people, theater critics for the New York Times? Good grief this movie isn't Shakespeare, what do you expect? This is a popcorn B-Movie that's all. I found it entertaining any way. Budget limitations taken into account. I swear many of you people rent these movies and then expect Citizen Kane.

Over all I thought this was a solid and smart film. I think however it could have been a lot better with a bigger budget because the ideas and concept where all sound. I give it credit for not looking like a home video the way so many indie films do these days. As a viewer you will either enjoy the non-linear story editing technique or you will hate it. I personally thought it was very clever the way the actors told their own narrative, and small bits of the back story where revealed as the film progressed. Lastly on the positive side, the final twist is one of the best twists I've seen in any movie. You can watch this film a hundred times and never figure out the final reveal on your own, I liked that. Oh and the Raquel Lake character is smoking HOT!!On the down side....a few of the characters where laughably bad, namely the executioner guy, he should of landed on the cutting room floor.

I saw this film at a local film-fest sponsored screening last night. I was prepared to be disappointed, as I was by the last low-budget locally-filmed 'scary' movie I saw in the same situation, but was instead pleasantly surprised. This film has fairly good acting & production values for something in this budget range. Most significantly, the director was willing to cut it down to 80 minutes to maintain pacing which shows a commitment to art over ego. The flashlight-lit scenes were particularly well done, compared to many scenes which I find too dark even in some Hollywood big-budget films, and the more active scenes didn't suffer from the ubiquitous modern trend of too-rapid cutting, although there was a bit too much use of 'recycled' shots and the forward-and-back jumps (non-linear plot) were sometimes unnecessarily confusing. The overall plot and theme, however, were fairly good and not predictable as one would usually see in this style of production. In fact, the final twist (and you know one will be coming) is essentially unpredictable yet not contrived.The creepiness and scares build from setting (mostly shot on location in a real abandoned century-old jail) and plot, and there is little gore to speak of, unlike many films in this genre. This is a positive aspect, as the director is relying on story-telling instead of visceral or cringe-inducing effects. The extensive use of this location is one of the highlights of the film.Overall I give it a only 6 out of 10 mainly because of the budget limitations. The score isn't bad, but I found the sound affects a bit lacking. The new, unknown actors give a good first feature film effort, and the plot and writing are very evocative of better Twilight Zone episodes.

This is a clever movie made on a tight budget, built around an interesting premise revealed at the end. I won't reveal the surprise at the end, but I will say that it reminded me of one of the ideas floating around in Philip K. Dick's "Ubik". In some ways, once the basic situation is explained at the end, the idea was intriguing enough to make me wish the movie had developed it further... because it has a lot of open-ended potential for creating interesting scenarios.The acting was decent, the casting of everyday-looking actors in the two lead parts ultimately works well for the story.M. David Mullen, ASC