To pick something abysmal at random say for example, Hack, with it's Saw rip off DVD cover it's a pathetic "horror" comedy cash in but you know what to expect. This on the other hand with it's recommendation quotes on the cover and such a good score on this website. What???# Sorry this is one of the worst films i have seen in a long time.Everything about this movie grates. The characters, the plot, the double "twist" ending, the fingernails on blackboard jazz score (punctuated once only by a pass the sick bag melancholy indie dirge at the graveside scene).The lead character, Mason is an extremely dysfunctional individual. A morbid social misfit with a penchant for sketching who can only communicate over the phone with his clients in his call centre booth or with the centre manager (who also plays a different kind of repulsive character,as in selfish, womanising).The story progresses with the most absurd opposites attract romance as Amber (that also being the actresses real Christian name)enters Masons life. She may also be another type of misfit but if you are being kind you would say she was perky, extremely chatty, slightly kooky (ie irritating). And so the story grinds to a halt while the viewer is left to work out is Amber real?, is Mason a serial killer? Why wont he reveal whats in his sketchpad? (quote - "it's in the rules"). Do you care?.The director thinks he is being clever by attempting to pull the rug with his double "twist". The first one you see a mile away oh but wait....then maybe not. The final scene has Mason on the bus complete with open sketchpad and behold the babe, who just happens to be seated behind, is drawn to the sketchpad and innitiates conversation with the loser extrordinaire. Does she exist? Is she his next victim? Erase and rewind.

The best thing about this movie is that despite how much you THINK you've seen this story before, no elements of the tale overstay their welcome.It's like when a band you really like comes out with an EP. You enjoy it for what happens within the boundaries it's length.What works best is the acting, particularly that of Joel David Moore, who simply seems to be enjoying himself while finding depth in this character him & Adam Green more than likely collaborated on. Amber Tamblyn was also not annoying to me in this. Sounds back-handed, I know, she's talented, but just ain't my style most of the time.Also, the choices of music in the film add to it's uniqueness.Please, do enjoy "Spiral."

I actually liked this movie although it took me a little while to get into it. And some of the scenes were actually drawn out. I don't mind the strangeness of Mason. He is mysterious like Amber says an Enigma and that's one of the reasons she's attracted to him. Plus a lot of chicks really dig art and the guy is always sketching/painting. Their relationship may be an anomaly even in the real world which is filled with all kinds of unlikeable and withdrawn characters that still manage to find or maintain relationships. One of the problems I have with the plot is that it leaves too much left unexplained.For instance. I would like to know if the blood in the sink was blood or paint. That could have completely cleared up any guilt of murder on Mason's part. Oil paint wouldn't wash off with regular soap and water, but neither would that much blood for that matter. so I'm. I am also not sure what happened to Amber. It never showed her body leading you to question if her murder is just in Mason's head or if it really happened. One of the quotes from the movie was Mason says how do you tell the difference which definitely reminds me of American Psycho starring Christian Bale. Similary both characters, Mason and Bale, believe they have committed murders that never actually took place.The movie actually played out kind of like the Machinist, where you know something happened in this guys past and it may have involved murder. In fact the scene or flashback where Mason is carrying what appears to be a rug or carpet with a body rolled up into it are almost taken directly from the Machinist.I think the directors could have brought closure at the end of this movie, but they chose to leave everything open ended. Mason was a mystery at the beginning of the film and still a mystery at the end. And we still don't know what happened to Amber, did she just not show up for work or was she dead? Or if any of the girls in Mason's past were real?

OK, we got JP from Grandma's Boy and Chuck from, well Chuck. I thought this movie would be quite good based on the reviews, and it did start out pretty high on my movie scale, but about halfway through it was just dragging out for so long I kept losing interest. I actually got so bored, probably because you can see right away what's going to happen in the end; the story is actually quite thread-bare, I skipped over 15 minutes and didn't miss a thing! This film should have been a short work, maybe around 45 minutes to an hour max. It starts out good and finishes good, too bad the filling is bland, boring, dull, and lacks everything but time. Some people say they like it for the music; I don't care for jazz and I don't go see movies for their score, I go for the story and when that's drawn out... well, ratings drop in my book.Bottom Line: Good open, great close, boring filler. Story was cool, but if you don't know what's going to happen a quarter of the way through, you haven't seen too many thrillers.