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Radius, 2017
Liam (Diego Klattenhoff) wakes up in the aftermath of a car accident with no memory of who he is or how he got there. As he stumbles on a series of recently dead people, he panics assuming that there is a deadly virus in the air. But the reality is much worse: Liam is somehow the center of a 50-foot circle, and any living thing that enters that zone immediately drops dead. But when a woman named Jane (Charlotte Sullivan) tracks him down--another victim of the same car accident and also without memory--it turns out that she is the only one who can survive being close to Liam. Further, her presence seems to negate the deadly force. But what is the cause of Liam's curse? And what is the connection between Liam and Jane?
I will admit that my reaction to the first 5 or 10 minutes was to assume that this was going to be some lame Carnival of Souls knockoff. It's not the other people who are dead, Liam, it's you! Oooooooh! TWIST! I hope it's not too spoiler-ish to say that this is not that kind of film, nor is it a case of "it's all a dream/in his head!" and for that I was incredibly grateful.
Instead the film ends up being a sort of horror/fantasy/sci-fi/mystery hash, with varying degrees of success in its different elements.
Klattenhoff is an engaging lead, as is Sullivan. The two have solid chemistry and play well with the idea of being shaken up by not knowing who they are, yet bonding over their shared circumstances. Their chemistry becomes vital in the final act, where the relationship and built up trust between the two characters becomes an essential ingredient to the plot and character arcs.
When it comes to the premise itself, thankfully the film doesn't try to get overly cutesy with the mechanics of it. Get too close to Liam and you're toast. Let Jane get too far away from Liam and you're toast. Bing bang boom. The film establishes the rules and then develops tension from watching well-intentioned but ignorant characters blunder into danger, despite Liam and Jane's best efforts.
Unfortunately, the premise itself doesn't evolve much as the film goes on. There are some nicely tense sequences, and the best moments are those where Liam and Jane must decide whether or not to use what they know about Liam's "powers".
In the final act, the movie does resolve the history between Jane and Liam, and it takes the film into a different kind of territory. On one hand, the relationship work between Liam and Jane gets some hefty emotional payoff. On the other hand, the film ends up raising a lot of questions that it then fails to answer. While I had mixed feelings about the content of the third act overall, I do have to give the film credit for bringing its story to a place of closure and for hitting on some good consistency with one of the characters.
This is by no means great, but I enjoyed it thanks to the solid lead performances and it's surprisingly coherent final moments.
Radius, 2017
Liam (Diego Klattenhoff) wakes up in the aftermath of a car accident with no memory of who he is or how he got there. As he stumbles on a series of recently dead people, he panics assuming that there is a deadly virus in the air. But the reality is much worse: Liam is somehow the center of a 50-foot circle, and any living thing that enters that zone immediately drops dead. But when a woman named Jane (Charlotte Sullivan) tracks him down--another victim of the same car accident and also without memory--it turns out that she is the only one who can survive being close to Liam. Further, her presence seems to negate the deadly force. But what is the cause of Liam's curse? And what is the connection between Liam and Jane?
I will admit that my reaction to the first 5 or 10 minutes was to assume that this was going to be some lame Carnival of Souls knockoff. It's not the other people who are dead, Liam, it's you! Oooooooh! TWIST! I hope it's not too spoiler-ish to say that this is not that kind of film, nor is it a case of "it's all a dream/in his head!" and for that I was incredibly grateful.
Instead the film ends up being a sort of horror/fantasy/sci-fi/mystery hash, with varying degrees of success in its different elements.
Klattenhoff is an engaging lead, as is Sullivan. The two have solid chemistry and play well with the idea of being shaken up by not knowing who they are, yet bonding over their shared circumstances. Their chemistry becomes vital in the final act, where the relationship and built up trust between the two characters becomes an essential ingredient to the plot and character arcs.
When it comes to the premise itself, thankfully the film doesn't try to get overly cutesy with the mechanics of it. Get too close to Liam and you're toast. Let Jane get too far away from Liam and you're toast. Bing bang boom. The film establishes the rules and then develops tension from watching well-intentioned but ignorant characters blunder into danger, despite Liam and Jane's best efforts.
Unfortunately, the premise itself doesn't evolve much as the film goes on. There are some nicely tense sequences, and the best moments are those where Liam and Jane must decide whether or not to use what they know about Liam's "powers".
In the final act, the movie does resolve the history between Jane and Liam, and it takes the film into a different kind of territory. On one hand, the relationship work between Liam and Jane gets some hefty emotional payoff. On the other hand, the film ends up raising a lot of questions that it then fails to answer. While I had mixed feelings about the content of the third act overall, I do have to give the film credit for bringing its story to a place of closure and for hitting on some good consistency with one of the characters.
This is by no means great, but I enjoyed it thanks to the solid lead performances and it's surprisingly coherent final moments.