Where to begin, where to begin? Well, let me preface this by saying I tried watching this once before and couldn't get through it. Recently, however, I was visiting my buddy who lives in Alexandria, VA and I happened to remember that Kalamity was filmed in Fairfax, VA. My buddy grew up around there and lived there for a number of years. I thought, hey, if nothing else, maybe he'll see some familiar sites or, perhaps, someone he knows. Also, I was thinking that maybe I just needed to give this movie another shot. Perhaps I wasn't in the right headspace when I watched this the first time. Well, it was 60 minutes of pure tedium that would have been better served watching paint dry. Wait, you're saying, it's a 90 minute movie, not 60. Quite true, but we watched for about 50 minutes and then had to start fast forwarding to see if there was anything to sustain our interest. No such luck. We were teased early on by a great scene where Stanley popped Christian in the face with a hockey puck. We would soon learn that this would be the highlight of the entire movie. The acting was stilted in some scenes and OTT (over the top) in others. The university in Ohio looked suspiciously like George Mason University. And, come on, you end the movie on a traffic signal changing from red to green? What does that even mean?! Sounds like art for art's sake to me. Lastly one of the characters made a crack about a "slut from Manassas." My grandmother lives in Manassas! I need to stop here and calm down before I can finish this review...Okay, If this movie could be saved (and that's a big "if"), I'd reedit it so there are only these scenes: 1) Billy comes home from college, 2) Stanley decks Christian with the hockey puck, 3) Billy has one of his girlfriend hallucinations in his Volvo, 4) Christian gets gunshot by Stanley, 5) Billy confronts Stanley, 6) The traffic light changes from red to green. That's it. Roll credits.

See, it's like "calamity" but with a "K", get it? Deliberate misspellings are so totally cool, dude! It's like a time machine back to 1996! Yes, the name doesn't tell us anything about the story and isn't inherently interesting…but it's "calamity" with a "K"! It's a good thing indy movies like this don't have to worry about stupid studio execs sticking them with absurd titles picked blindly out of a bag of marketing buzzwords. I mean, "calamity" with a "K"? It's genius!Putting that inspired choice aside, this is a flabby film that feels much longer than its 98 minute run time. It gets its own essential mystery wrong, bollixes the psychology of its antagonist and has a protagonist so passive he's practically in a coma. The story rests entirely on a difference between two characters that is never examined or explained and writer/director James M. Hausler wastes an enormous amount of time on a narrative device that does nothing and goes nowhere. The basic premise of Kalamity is sound and Jonathan Jackson does a nice job playing the facets of a character who's never integrated into a believable person. It's also nice to see Patricia Kalember get work. Sisters was a criminally underrated show. The bottom line on this production, though, is that it's the proverbial sound and fury, signifying nothing.Billy (Nick Stahl) is a mid-20something guy who's returned home to Virginia after breaking up with his college student girlfriend (Beau Garrett) in Ohio. And let me just stop right here. Nick Stahl is a talented performer but he can't play mid 20s anymore. He's got a lived-in actor's face that doesn't look like it's been injected, pulled back or retouched. It's a great face, but not for somebody in their mid 20s. When the film slaps a ball cap on him in a flashback to pass him off as even younger, it's pathetic. He's not acting too old for the part and maybe some make up and getting in a bit better shape would have helped, but Stahl's apparent age really screwed up the whole sensibility of Billy and put the film in a hole from the very beginning.Anyway, Billy returns home to find his best friend Stan (Jonathan Jackson) has become a raging douche who gets violently angry at the mention of his ex-girlfriend's name. Then Billy learns that Stan's ex has gone missing and, well, he sorta waits around for someone else to do something, although he instantly suspects that Stan's involved in the disappearance. Oh, and Billy also goes through the whole movie seeing and talking to his ex-girlfriend as a daydream/hallucination.Here's the crux of the problem with Kalamity. It's about two guys experiencing the same heartbreak where one merely mopes around and the other turns to murder, but why Billy reacts one way and Stan another is never touched on. There's no reason even vaguely referenced at any point in the film. Without that emotional context, the only thing this movie can be about is the mystery of what Stan did and why he did it. However, any reasonably intelligent viewer figures both those things out immediately and Billy understands it the moment he first hears about Stan's missing ex. The only mystery here is why the hell Billy never calls the cops. Well, that and what the hell writer/director Hausler thought he was doing with Billy's girlfriend delusions.Kalamity is a hook and a theme that never develop into a story. It's unclear what these events are supposed to mean for Billy and his life. It's unclear what the audience is supposed to make of Stan's descent into evil. The only suspense is in wondering if this thing is going to wander into the general vicinity of a point. It doesn't. Billy's fantasies should have been dispensed with and replaced by a plot that gave him some purpose and Stan some rationale. This is a classic example of a filmmaker coming up with some good scenes but not realizing they don't add up to a film. A bunch of supporting characters should have been removed or greatly de-emphasized because they don't contribute anything to the conflict between Billy and Stan.Kalamity isn't a katastrophe. It's just a bad movie.

After breaking up with their girlfriends of five years, two friends handle it differently. After moving back to his hometown Billy (Stahl) learns that his girlfriend no longer wants a long distance relationship. He is not handling it well and goes to friend Stan (Jackson) for help coping. Stan is not handling his break up well either and soon his girlfriend winds up missing. This movie more then anything is a little disturbing, mainly for the fact that this is very believable and I'm sure at least part of this has happened to someone before. I don't want to give to much away but before you watch know that this is not a horror movie like the preview makes it seem like, but a very disturbing look at how an unstable person handles a break-up. I give it a B-.Would I watch again? - Not sure, I think I would but it may not have the same effect.

Kalamity is a believable psychological thriller directed by James Hausler. Hausler anchors his cast with Nick Stahl in a lead role as well as veteran actors Robert Forster and Patricia Kalember. Stahl returns to his hometown after a broken romance in pretty bad emotional shape. Hoping to turn to his best friend, Stan, Billy (Stahl) soon learns that something is very wrong with Stan. As the plot unfolds, Hausler builds suspense keeping the audience completely engaged as the mystery unfolds.Jonathan Jackson, a relative newcomer in comparison to Stahl, believably portrays a disturbed young man, whose life changes in an instant.Christopher Clark has some difficulty in his off-beat role but does not detract from the overall quality.