User Reviews

A very hard film to comment on for a few reasons....

The first thing that really hits you is that this was shot on a tight budget, not that this should put you off from watching this, it just takes 15 minutes or so just to get used to the acting and the way scenes "jump" into each other, though without giving to much away this really adds to a feeling that everything is almost dream like and not reality, though I am not sure this was intentional.

If you are willing to stick with this the story really does keep you wanting to reach the end, as the film twists away very cleverly, unfortunately for me it was just to clever (or just didn't make sense at all!!), I simply did not get it and have to say I was just left thinking "what??!!??" which was disappointing as I was really getting into it.

Please do not let the 2 out of 10 put you off, there is "something" to this film, and I am sure there are a few who really will enjoy this indie picture but I just didn't get it.

I am really interested to see some peoples take on the ending!

This is a very hard movie to rate. On the one hand the acting and cutting between scenes is amateurish at best, on the other it's a pretty good story with a couple of pretty good twists that I didn't see coming. I'm pretty sure that this will be a low rated movie because of the amateurism prevalent throughout and that's a shame. The movie isn't scary or gruesome although there are a couple of scenes that make an attempt at gore. The obvious fakeness I believe was either due to budget constraints or because this isn't supposed to be a slasher film and it's an effective way of making that statement.

I wouldn't waste my money by seeing it in theater, but if you're bored and want to see something different it's worth a rental, or a purchase from the Wal-Mart bargain bin because it really is a pretty good story and it is pretty well told. The ending left me wondering. I checked the spoiler box yes, but that doesn't mean I'll tell you how it ended, suffice it to say that on reflection it makes perfect sense but should have been expounded on for another minute or two.

6 out of ten for the story.

The first thing that I noticed about the movie is the bad acting. Specifically Robert Olding and Jessica Landon. Robert Olding was a tad bit better than the rest of the cast but not much. Jessica Landon seriously needs to take some acting lessons. The rest of the crew can follow. Danielle Bitton looked like a soft porn starlet. The second thing that noticed about the movie was the scene jumping. One scene jumped to the next and made no sense. I felt like quitting the movie because of this. I decided to stick with it to see if the ending would tie the plot together as it usually does in movies that make absolutely no sense. This one didn't. The Polaroid taken of Jacob and Carmen being married absolutely did not jive with the ending showing Jacob being on death row for 12 years because he molested Carmen and accidentally kills her as a child. I am as confused about what was really going on in the movie at the end as I was in the beginning. If this movie had better actors, producers, directors and writers to change the terrible script it could be a real box office hit. Oh and change the name to something that jives more with the movies instead of "A Secret Handshake". The movie plot never revealed how this came to be the name of the movie.

Martin Scorcese should give Harsha Wardhan some serious directing tips.

In a top 100 best movies this one would be on 2826351281 :). Everything is awful,from the starting credits,the acting,the music, subject etc. The way it is filmed reminds of a high-school movie/2nd hand horror movie, and the lines seem to be written by a guy that watched 20 teenager movies, 10 horror ones and some documentaries on Discovery Channel. If you want to torture some relatives that came over to visit you or you want to scare some friends with your movie taste this movie is perfect....just say that it is your favorite movie and ask them to watch it ,and after that you will not hear from them too soon. I always thought that "Dog Soldiers" is a bad movie....but this one is even worse. As a conclusion.....press Stop after the first 5 minutes of the movie and try watching something else.

Alright, first of all this is no Memento or similar types. Its an ambitious little film and its low budget. This combination usually results in a disaster and this one maybe an exception, just about. I came across this film at an underground cinema screener in West Mumbai, India and the little audience in attendance was completely intrigued throughout the film and continued to discuss the story after the end credits. It's an unusual film in the sense that it's very restricted (characters, locations, production value etc.) and very incessant (It's ambition to not veer off the one man's story). The film starts slow and draws us into Jacob's troubled married life and then takes a turn, shifts, turns again, spins, catches breath and repeats until it reaches the climax where its a free fall before the resolution. There is no point in going into the actual story as this one is the kind where you must experience and/or feel it. I am truly frustrated by this little film as there is unarguably "something" about this film that touches/disturbs the viewer but it feels not entirely realized at the same time. It's rare that so much emotion is shown between a married couple within the thriller genre in American films and maybe that's why this feels like a "foreign film". It's a very David Lynchish in its approach and while it manages this very well, little bit more budget and production design would have made it more accessible to a much wider audience. I would watch out for this Writer-Director future work.

Ultimately if movies like Memento, The Machinist, Primer and such movies are your cup of tea (reference to a great add on in the film ), you'll enjoy this in spite of all its flaws.

A generous 7 out of 10 for the brilliant effort.