RELEASED: 2007, Cert.15

RUNNING TIME: Approx. 85 mins

DIRECTOR: Dario Piana

PRODUCERS: Brian J Gilbert, Ralph Kemp & Stan Winston

SCREENPLAY: Brendan Hood

MUSIC: Elia Cmiral

MAIN CAST:-

Mike Vogel as Ian Stone
Christina Cole as Jenny Walker
Jaime Murray as Medea

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FILM ONLY REVIEW

Ian Stone loses a game of ice hockey, and that's when the creepy 'beings' make their first, albeit off to the side, appearance.

On his way home from the ice hockey match, Ian encounters a strange figure by a railway track which he believes is a dead body, yet when he investigates, it rises up and attacks him. Ian dies, and from that point onwards during the film, he is killed several times over. After each of Ian's deaths, he 'comes to life' again, finding himself in situations which are either forwards or backwards within his total existence, if that makes sense.

The creepy 'beings' scare the hell out of Ian and seem to be tracking his every move...appearing out of every corner....even an ordinary-looking passer-by in the street will take on the form of one of these entities.

After receiving a warning from a strange, almost tramp-like man that Ian's girlfriend is also in danger, the shadowy figures become real, tangible, and simply won't leave him alone. Each time Ian is cornered by his pursuers he dies again, coming back to life in yet another section of his overall existence.

That sets the scene....more or less....and if you have a spare 85 minutes on your hands, you might like to waste it watching The Deaths Of Ian Stone, to find out more.

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At the very beginning of The Deaths Of Ian Stone, just after the ice hockey match came to a bitter end, I was intrigued to know how the storyline would pan out. The scene was well set, and being impressed by the body next to the railway line scene, I hoped I was in for a psychological thriller or horror genre treat.

As the film progressed, I quickly became more and more confused as to what was really happening, not to mention finding the storyline moving into less and less credible territory, although I do accept it is complete fantasy.

Mike Vogel's performance as Ian Stone was at least passable, but those of the remaining cast I found to be agonisingly awful, especially Jaime Murray's miserably flat delivery of the vampish, bloodthirsty, 'undead' Medea. Her wooden, characterless acting abilities put me in mind of one of those serialised children's stories which would often be shown on TV on Sunday afternoons during the early to mid 1960s. She certainly looked the part, but that's as far as it went, and it simply wasn't enough for me. Some good acting from the supporting cast might have gone a little way to compensate for the film otherwise being confusing in parts and boring in other parts, but it didn't happen.

The musical score was mostly unnoticeable to me, so that could be a plus or a minus in that if I largely wasn't aware of it, the reason might be due to it merging nicely with what was happening on screen, or on the minus side, it may be so boring that my mind switched off from it. The parts of the music which did seep into my awareness were very similar to the score of Silence Of The Lambs....too similar really.

The film's one saving grace for me was that it contains some rather interesting special effects....probably nothing which hasn't already been done before, but nonetheless skilfully and seamlessly arranged, with a couple of visual surprises in there - one of which did make me jump out of my skin. There are some quite bloody, violent scenes during The Deaths Of Ian Stone, of a nature that makes me question as to why the film has been certified as 15. However, and with regard to the special effects, some of them....particularly those filmed down in the London Underground system, are far too close to the film Ghost to be considered as completely original. Also, looking at the film's concept of someone being caught up in a spiral of life repeating itself, it isn't a million miles from Groundhog Day.

I pretty much yawned my way through most of The Deaths Of Ian Stone, my inertia not being assisted by the confusing storyline and tenth rate acting from most of the cast. Of course the film is complete fantasy and naturally I accept that, but its levels of far-fetchedness were delivered in such a way that I was alienated rather than absorbed. My resolve in seeing the whole thing through to the closing credits almost crumbled at quite a few points during the film, but I managed to gird my loins and hang on in there, just in case something worthy did happen.

In summary, I personally wouldn't recommend The Deaths Of Ian Stone. It is a brave effort on the part of the director, producers and Mike Vogel's moderately OK characterisation of the beleaguered Ian Stone, but for me there wasn't enough to commend it all that highly. However, if your main enjoyment of films lies heavily in the arena of special effects, then you might like it.

I'm tempted to award just one star, but I'll creep it up to two stars, for the intricacy of some of the visual effects and Mike Vogel's not too bad (but not excellent) acting.

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At the time of writing, The Deaths Of Ian Stone can be purchased on Amazon as follows:-

New: from £2.24 to £19.99
Used: from £2.23 to £8.85
Collectible: Two copies currently available @ £4.99 and £5.99

A delivery charge of £1.26 should be added to the above figures.

Thanks for reading!

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