I-Lived
(2015/XLrator DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Film: C-
I-Lived
is the classic spin on the 'genie in the bottle' story only with an
app instead of a Genie. The film follows the exploits of Josh Fosse,
who is a 20 something guy whose life is going nowhere. His girl
left, his rent is late, and he lacks a real job. He is trying to make
it as an app reviewer online and decides to review a self help app
called i-Lived for fun.
He
signs on to the app, accepts the terms and conditions, and
immediately his life turns around. Do you think our hero has even
seen the comedy film Bedazzled, original or remake? Anyway...
he meets the girl of his dreams and he gets a job offer he can't
refuse. Convinced it's his own luck and not the app, he signs out...
and loses everything. He signs on again but this time the terms are
different, the app is asking him to do things that are out of his
moral comfort zone... but essential to becoming the success the app
tells him he can be. The film stars Jeremiah Watkins, Sarah Power,
and Elaine Partnow.
The
film is stylistically not bad as the director is Franck Khalfoun, who
did last year's Maniac remake with Elijah Wood and the pretty
terrible P2. The guy knows how to direct a decent horror
movie but unfortunately can't escape the dumb premise. What works in
It Follows and even The Ring and doesn't work for me
here is the sense that the evil is unbeatable and comes after you no
matter what. In this film, he is basically just following orders to
kill out of fear and that didn't really work for me.
Presented
in standard definition with an anamorphic 1.78 X 1 widescreen
transfer and a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track, the film looks fine on
DVD but could benefit from a Blu-ray upgrade. No extras.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
