Review of The Other Side (2006) by Sondre L — 11 Oct 2008

After digging the hell out of Mr Bishops most recent offering "Dance of the Dead", I thought considering his talent with a low budget I'd go back a movie and check out this one. Really pleasant surprise to find that once again in spite of budgetary restrictions there a whole slew of imagination on display and a nice twisitng and turning storyline to boot. Mr Bishops got a gift for making the most of what he has, and there's well paced and cut action sequences here that leave big budget hollywood in the dust. Nice to see some familiar, if slightly younger faces from Dance of the Dead, and while there's plenty of Terminator / Frighteners riffs to be found, the real pleasure was the story payoff, Mobley is a very likeable lead, and there's a nice chemistry with his movie girlfriend Jamie Alexander, and while other performances might be less polished, the overall pace and tension is never sacrificed.

There was some downright Jacobs ladder-esque visuals going on in the depiction of hell, and everyone who got into the roles of the Reapers, particuarly the esepcially deadly girls, were spot on. Basically this is another film from Bishop that pays homage, but never disresepcts it's genre, if this man keeps putting it all up on the screen like in terms of ideas and budgets, I think comparisons to genre luminaries like Raimi, Romero, Carpenter etc, are not unrealisitic or too far off.

Can't wait for the next one, great lo-fi movie.