The Other Side (2006)

Absolutely the worst movie.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I bumped my rating to a 3 after seeing the budget for this movie was 15k. They did make a bad but not horrible movie for that kind of dough. I mean at least it's not Heaven's Gate. The acting was sub par, the action sequences were particularly bad and the writing was yawn inducing. You have to suspend disbelief when watching this type of movie but in this case you have to suspend intelligence also. If I had the hour and a half back I'd take my dog down to the park and videotape him pooing on the grass. Don't believe the rave reviews you've been reading here as this movie is like an after school special from the 80's blended with a direct to video action flick starring Don Swayze and Frank Stallone.

There are piles of low budget, poor quality horror films at the local rental store, and I've been through dozens of them. What makes them bad is rarely the special effects, but the writing and acting.The Other Side appeared from the cover to be a horror movie, but played more like a straight up action film with a strong supernatural current running through. There were some horror elements, but they pretty much took a back seat to the action. The acting and script were surprisingly good, with an interesting story to support them. Some of the special effects were inferior, but I can always let that slide if the other elements are handled well. I felt the character interactions were believable, as were their reactions to the crazy situations. I've seen many horror films that throw their characters into remarkable circumstances and there is minimal system shock - as if they'd somehow been desensitized or done this before, even though they had not. If a character is unimpressed and minimally affected by his or her circumstances, then how am I supposed to be terrified? One of the biggest criticisms I have for the film was with the opening. We are served with a barrage of images that take snippets of events which occur throughout the film and toss them together in a sort of collage that lasts only a few minutes. This was an apparent "Pulp Fiction" or "Memento" type of moment I suppose, with the attempt to inject some art into the film. It did not work - the entire first few minutes should have wound up on the cutting room floor. My stop-button finger was definitely twitching and if it had gone on for much longer then I probably would have missed the rest of the movie.Fortunately I stayed and found the experience to be entertaining and worthwhile. This one will not win any awards and probably doesn't have a wide appeal, but the horror fans of the world like me should be pleased.

Sometimes death is the end. But sometimes, it is the beginning. In the tradition of "Ghost" and "The Crow" (though very original), "The Other Side" is the story of a man who runs from death in order to solve his own murder and help find his kidnapped girlfriend. But with the police and the reapers after him, does he stand a ghost of a chance?According to the Internet Movie Database, USC film school graduate Gregg Bishop (who wrote, directed and did pretty much everything for this film) financed "The Other Side" himself with $15,000 (the profits from his film "Voodoo"). One has to comment that this film looks amazing for the budget. Some special effects used far surpass what other, bigger studios have tried to pawn off on their viewers, and the overall acting and story are quite impressive. I have to say that hell ("the pit") looks cool. Bishop skipped the fire and brimstone and torture route and went straight into the dark, lonely isolation sort of underworld. Not only does this probably correlate better with the Bible, but I think it personally makes for a more terrifying punishment. Confined, alone in darkness for eternity. That's pain.This film has lots of blood. We're talking "Kill Bill" levels of blood, "Izo" levels of blood. Every gunshot makes a good splatter. And I couldn't be happier about this. While much of the film was more action than horror (the only real "horror" aspects are the fact we have corpses coming back to life), the horror fans will likely appreciate the blood and excessive flesh wounds. Jaimie Alexander appears in this film, although not as prominently as the cover of the film might imply. Her appearance in this film not only probably helped her career (this predates "Rest Stop" and "Hallowed Ground", as well as her leading roles in "Kyle XY" and that other show), but it helped sell this film. After it was filmed, but before going to DVD is when Jaimie broke through into the mainstream, giving this film an added star it probably hadn't counted on. And with looks that are a cross between Katie Holmes and somebody actually attractive, her presence is a big plus for everyone.The humor in this was subtle but appreciated. I loved the character of Mally the Adulterer. His womanizing antics were amusing, his one-liners were funny, and I thought the scene where he smokes multiple cigarettes was classic (he's dead -- why not?). There was also a great visual gag involving a neighborhood watch sign that might have been the best thing in the entire movie. I' ma sucker for intelligent and clever humor.I could make some complaints (aside from the obvious budget constraints). Like, was I really supposed to believe the reapers were 30-50 years old (as reported by the news anchor)? These ages seem a little funny, as I would have put them more in the 25-30 range. In fact, everyone in the film seemed a little young. But this in no way took away from their acting or ability to relate to the audience.I recommend you check this out to see how to make a film with a limited budget, because I dare you to find anything else on this level. There may be some minor drawbacks, and I thought the twist was a bit hard to accept, but the themes were great and the plot was smooth. Gregg Bishop is a man who knows how to tell a good story and make it look how it should. I eagerly await his next feature film.

Don't expect a masterpiece. Please. The Other Side is entertaining, semi-original, and for the most part, well acted. Some of the scenes could have been removed, some of the actors could have been replaced, but honestly, with such a low budget, the crew/cast did a great job. The main character especially was well done. His relationship with his girlfriend was portrayed well in some parts but came off a little cheesy in others. Most other low budget horror movies are based around sex scenes/nudity and gore which detracts from the plot a great deal. The Other Side does not indulge in this cliché and is, in this reviewers opinion, a breath of fresh air in a stale genre.