Lifechanger

Festival circuit gem that gives a high concept horror teeth, guts and a more elevated trope in it's main character. A bit clumsy in it's plot direction but a rewarding effect overall.

Pleasantly surprised! This one is example that you don't need CGI to have a good movie!

Heavily inspired by the classics Invasion of the Body Snatchers/ Hidden. Writter/ Director Justin McConnell brings us "LIFECHANGER". This time though it is a shapeshifter who can't stay in the same body before its starts rotting and he has to find a new host. All through the movie, Drew pursues the love of his life Julia (Lora Burke)but leaves a path of destruction and death. What is cool you never actually see the original actor and what he looks like cause he is played by all different people. Make and female. But what keeps you connected is him narrating with the very recognizable voice of Bill Oberst Jr. What's cool he not only literally sucks the life from them and becomes them in appearance but also actually becomes them And has all there memories. Which makes it easier to remain undetected and free from capture. After he takes over the new body he always disposed of it. But after each encounter with the new bodies it seems that are lasting lesser and lesser before they start decaying. He connects with Julia regardless of who he becomes and soon learns there love can never be. The end is rewarding and like the rest of the movie plays out well. First of all this movie could not have been as good as it was without the actors. Everyone of these characters were well directed and the people Playing then we're superb. From the introduction to the very glamorous Elitsa Bako To the final shift of Peter Higginson. The movie moves at a break neck pace and never bores the viewer. Our lead is always tormented and has to deal with preventing his death and finding a new body! The special effects are a breath of fresh air. They are real special FX performed and applied by make up artists the way things used to be. No fancy CGI. All the more reason to check this out. I really enjoyed and couldn't have thought of a better way to spend a cold winter afternoon than watching this! LIFECHANGER is written and directed by Justin McConnell, and produced by Avi Federgreen and McConnell. Executive producers include James Fler, Andrew Thomas Hunt, Keith Leopard, Michael Paszt, Pasha Patriki, and Marvin Waxman. Produced by 9 Light Entertainment in association with Federgreen Entertainment and Unstable Ground. The film will be distributed by Raven Banner Entertainment and Uncork'd Entertainment. Cast: Lora Burke, Jack Foley, Elitsa Bako, Sam James White, Steve Kasan, Rachel Vanduzer, Peter Higginson, Adam Buller, Brian Quintero, Mark Rainmaker, Ry Barrett, Michelle D'Allesseandro Hatt, Uche Ama, Daniel Faraldo, and Francesco Filice star.

Just thought I'd leave an honest review to counterbalance the 8/10+ reviews given by what I assume to be friends and family of the production company. This movie is an absolute slog. It has the pacing of a half dead hampster limping inside of a square hampster wheel. That is to say, it goes absolutely nowhere, instead deciding to play out the same scene over and over and over again. It wasn't a particularly original concept, however I feel it has not been overdone and as such could have been fitting for a short film. A very short film. A 10-15 minute film. Seriously, just watch this film for 10 minutes and rest assured you've already seen everything you need to see. I typically do not like romance muddying up my horror movies (unless of course it inspires the plot in some meaningful way) but this movie takes the cake. It's not a cliche Hollywood shoehorning of romance into a movie that simply could do without -- no, it's much worse. This film is driven forward by a romantic plot written by what appears to be someone who has never in their life experienced romance. The writing is just god awful. In short, this movie plays out like the AI robots that are forced to read Trump speeches or Olive Garden commercials and then write their own (to hilarious effect) were sat down in front of a Cronenburg film and set loose upon my senses. I give it 2/10 stars because the concept was alright, and after reading this review I hope you have a good laugh while watching it and seeing exactly what I mean.

It's a terrible little movie, the narrator is useless, the actors are terrible, the production value is zero, plotholes from the get-go, i had to stop after 20min and do something useful with my life. save your time, skip this one!

I couldn't suspend my disbelief at any point in this movie. It makes no sense. It's basically the "taking lives" premise where a soul passes from one person to the next adopting their lives. But due to terminal decay the person, who is at heart some sort of vampiric good guy has to jump from one person to the next killing each host as he goes, but only manages it seems to cups the host body for a day or two. Despite this, he seems to attempt to continue the hosts lifes normal daily routines..why? He also wastes time disposing of the life drained corpses...which would appear to be in a state of severe decay...and by doing so. Makes their deaths looks more suspicious...why? This of course wastes most of the day he has in each host. He also seems concerned that the cops are catching him up...yet he would never have the same body, so could easily provide allibys for all the previous deaths...why? It reminded me of a low budget student getting his first big budget script. Dialogue was poor. It wasn't a terrible film, it was quite well made...but the conceptual plot, story and the dialogue really let it down.

source: Lifechanger

LIFECHANGER is competently made with good direction and good cinematography. The acting from every person in the film is very good (especially from main(?) male lead Jack Foley. i'm VERY impressed with his acting and he's only acted in 3 projects in total!!) and the special FX work is very good as well. what i really didn't like was the story/screenplay. i hated the fact that we're hearing/seeing things from the villain's perspective all while he's killing (or "taking" as the villain calls it) person after person with NO remorse whatsoever. much of the film is this villain "taking"/becoming (killing) person after person after person after person, etc. after the 350th person he becomes it gets really tired to watch. in other words it gets very repetitive real fast. again, the acting, direction, FX work, etc. are all good but the movie gets only a 4 out of 10 from me because of the unsatisfying, poor storyline.

"Lifechanger" is quite an ambitious attempt at making a philosophical indie horror & it's also the first horror movie I've watched in 2019. Here's what I think of "Lifechanger" (mild spoilers ahead): I'm pretty sure the fact that I went into this not knowing a thing contributed to my amazement. There's a lot of small, positive things about this movie that I really liked. For example, the voice of Bill Oberst Jr. is made to narrate things. Yeah, there's a narrator for this movie - the main character whose real form we don't see until the very end. Visually, the main character changes all the time for he's taking another human being and making it himself, over and over again. Yes, the concept of "Lifechanger" indeed is interesting, to say the least, but does it lead anywhere? That's probably the biggest flaw of this horror flick - the story leads nowhere and ends in such ambiguity that it leaves the viewer slightly frustrated. I love ambiguous endings - in my opinion, the best story is the one that leaves the figuring-it-out to You, but the things is - the viewer should be able to figure it out to the extent that it makes sense, even if just metaphorically. So, "Lifechanger" starts out great, scene after scene makes you more intrigued and eager to know the solution to all the happenings. Sadly, halfway through the movie I started to question the destination of "Lifechanger". The idea behind the story is arguably great, but the finished script - underwhelming. However underwhelming the flow and solution of the story might be, the director has done a good enough job to keep the viewer follow the movie - scene to scene, character to character - it's rather engaging, especially for a horror movie buff like myself who's in a dire need to expierence new & fresh takes on the horror genre. Surprisingly, the acting is convincing enough, given the script & the fact that this is not big budget movie. Cinematography is simple and polished, does not stand out with any on-the-nose flaws. Oh, and the gore! For some reason, I was expecting a lot more of it. However, it has its amount of gore & blood plus it's all practical FX & who doesn't love that? I sure as hell do. Another thing I'd like to mention - there's quite a bit of drama/romance hybrid mashed in with all the horror. While it doesn't sound that good in theory, it actually kinda worked. Not counting the final dialogue (confrontation), the drama/romance parts are not the ones that'll make you cringe. "Lifechanger" is one of those movies that I wish I could've liked a bit more, yet I can't fool myself and others, so, well, if you're interested in an itsy-bitsy different indie horror flick - take this up! If you're interested in anything other than that - skip this one. My rating: 5/10.

Yet another movie I was lured into watching because I looked at the average rating, but didn't bother to look at the actual reviews. If I had done so, I would've noticed the usual oddly consistent, highly positive early reviews, followed by comments written by unhappy reviewers who seem to have seen the movie I did, not the marvel of modern filmmaking the early reviewers watched. I fell asleep at one point for 15 - 20 minutes, and didn't even bother to go back and watch what I'd missed -- I'd already seen the same basic scene played out three times, didn't really need to watch number four to get the idea of what had happened. When I woke, I paused to see how much time was left, and if there'd been more than 15 minutes, I wouldn't have bothered to finish. Alas, I did finish. The ending annoyed me so much that I wish I'd stopped before I got there. One of those "deep" endings that I suspect is written because no one can figure out how to end the movie. It explained nothing, resolved nothing and in the end, this was for me another utterly bland, unoriginal, dull movie I watched only because Netflix pushed it a bit and suggested I'd like it. I guess I did get a short nap, so some good came of this. I know a lot of people put a lot of time, effort and money into this, and I wish for their sake and mine that it had paid off. I guess it did, for them -- at least they got money for their effort. You and I are just about finished, Netflix.