Movie Review: SCALENE

Zack Parker's SCALENE came to me early in 2011 after following Parker and his gang making the movie in 2010.  What Zack Parker has done is set the bar very high for indie filmmakers abroad! SCALENE could play at any theater or movie channel on any given day. The film is a hybrid or sorts, not so much falling in the horror or hardcore thriller genre but it is what Parker described to me in our interview as a perceptual thriller.

Watching this extremely well written movie which tells the story about three main characters, one is a guarded mother named Janice Tremble (Margo Martindale) who takes care of her mentally challenged son Jakob (Adam Scarimbolo) who as the film unfolds you find out why he is in this condition and a horrible secret is uncovered by Paige Alexander (Hanna Hall) who befriends Jakob and learns more thwn she wants to know.

SCALENE starts out in pure horror with Janice chasing and confronting Paige with a gun no less and then our story begins. We learn so much about these characters, especially Janice who to me is the special ingredient to the story. The friendship and special bond grows with Jakob and Paige to the point when Paige finds out Jakob's horrible secret, she goes to extreme measures to protect Jakob from his secret he carries with him and has never shared with anyone. We ultimately meet up with Janice and Paige in the end where we found them in the beginning. How far would you go to protect someone who can't protect themselves?

Watching this movie from the three main characters point of view gives you "what if" scenarios thinking, was that actually the right thing to do? SCALENE also gives you that rare WTF ending (I copyrighted that)  that lets the viewer decide how they want think the movie ended. Did it happen or didn't it?

SCALENE is an absolute pleasure to watch in its 1:37 run time, and is a film you can watch more than once! The movie is shot clear and crisp on the red camera with sound quality and score to match and you can tell, it's so well written by Brandon Owens and Parker that we don't need any over the top special effects, it simply plays like a fine tuned instrument!  Zack Parker and company have a rare special indie treat in store for the audience and there's no telling how far this film will actually go! SCALENE is highly recommend!