DVD The Library
Rating: 4.6
Genres: Sci-Fi
Director: Joseph Ciminera
Writers: Joseph Ciminera
Stars: Steven Arabia, Robert Arensen, Audra Balewski
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Storyline In a small town circa 1860 small pox takes the life of a little boy. He enters a world that will get him prepped and re-incarnated for his next life. The library is a second chance, a place to select a storybook life and be reborn. The evil darkness takes the boy into lower earth. All the corners of hell are fighting to keep him from reaching the next level. Four guardians are sent to rescue him but they only have 30 minutes. Written by Joe Ciminera |
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Details: Country: USA Release Date: 17 May 2013 (USA) |
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Box Office Budget: $5,000 (estimated) |
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DVD The Library
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4 comments
As you've probably surmised, 6 MINUTES of DEATH is a low budget indie set in Philadelphia, 1862, with props and costume design that are occasionally convincing but more often ludicrously otherwise.
The first 30 minutes are VERY tiresome, with the local kids coming down with a mysterious pox-plague, a bunch of parents and teachers screaming and moaning, and so on. As horrible as the following may sound, things start to pick up after all the kids die and transmigrate to a clearing in the nearby woods called "the Library," where some mundanely dressed angel fellows–all with heavy East Coast accents–explain that a mysterious "Book" from somewhere, sometime in the Dark Ages allows them to resume their prematurely interrupted lives in a place and person of their choice. An interesting concept, and it might have made for a nice afterlife fantasy if the film had continued in that direction. However, a maverick girl-and-boy duo walk off with the "Book" before the "angels" can assign their proper destinations, and they wind up in a dark Dante-esque forest bordering Hell (?), which actually looks more like rural Long Island. One of the guardian angel guys with pattern baldness goes after them, but, as the Book decrees, he has only six minutes before he'll be trapped forever in the underworld himself. . .
For the very most part, 6MD is SO amateurishly done that it's laughable, and many will find it to be a waste of their time and money as well as downright insulting to their intelligence. In scenes such as the angel dude kung-fu fighting with "demons" (lol!) dressed in black hoodies and white masks, it would appear that the actors and directors weren't even halfway trying for anything that should be taken seriously (even in a funny way). Moreover, the huge cast for such a short film is confusing, and probably because the directors and writers of the film didn't have a really clear idea themselves, it's hard to place who's supposed to be who in both Philadelphia and the Afterworld.
I do not exaggerate when I say that in terms of overall production, 6MD is one of, perhaps THE worst film that I've ever seen–It definitely makes the bottom 3. Still, it's so weird, with such an imaginative (though seriously underdeveloped) premise that I have to give it a little something above the minimum rating. In certain places, it succeeds at being spooky if not exactly frightening–The haunting instrumental soundtrack helps in that regard. The child actors did a nice job despite the lame script they were given, and the whole film would have been far better if there were more focus on the kids and less on the various adult bozos. There is also some briefly breathtaking scenery. Finally, it gets really, really interesting at the very end. . .and then it stops.
Quite possibly the worst community theater "actors" on the planet got together with a seriously deluded writer/director and made this piece of flotsam…..ghastly….hilariously bad acting……incomprehensible plot and script…….uncomfortably inferior writing and delivery of badly written dialogue……apparently, anybody that contributed money to this project was cast in a speaking role….so many characters that it was impossible for continuity……the only good work was the actual camera operation and special effects…..all wasted by community theatre-quality direction……somebody in that cast had big money, because Red Box got paid to put it in their machines….I turned it off after 15 minutes of gawping in wonder….
Wow, what can I say? The acting was not only terrible, but the actors kept forgetting their lines, or stumbling through them making corrections as they went along. I was dumb struck with the lack of period costumes/clothes. It was set in 1860's but you had all kinds of dresses, except the actual hoop skirt dresses of the time. (I seen only one) I seen hair styles, short sleek, modern cuts, other than a few kids with braids or an adult with waist long hair, none of them had the braid, ringlets, and buns worn in the 1800,s. They wore hats from the 1700's, as well as modern style hats. Not the style of bonnets or hair attire worn in the 1800's. I especially loved the sleeping caps worn in church and during the day in public with their short hair sticking out of it. When I seen a guy walking with knicker style pants like worn in the 1600's I burst out laughing. You may be working on a short budget, but come on. Actors need to remember their lines and not say ummmm so much. I just could not get past the mixed period clothes everyone wore. I guess you just needed a long dress to play a part. If it was a modern straight maxi dress from the local clothing store it was OK. I can get past a little period inconsistencies, but this was a constant. I hung on for the first 1/2 hour hoping for any type of improvement in the movie before finally turning it off in disgust.
Waste of money and my time.
These reviews are concise and well reasoned. Why bash it just because you disagree with it? All these comments that deride it are doing the same things that accuse this review of doing. I review films for a living. I can clearly tell you that this is one of the most creative horror films I have ever seen on a $5,000 budget. If the cost is precise this director is a genius. More and more the effects f movies are killing the industry creative level. Cleary not the case in 6 minutes of death ..For all the right reasons this film doest spare an expense it getting the job done.Horror is back, wrapped in a Gothic cloak woven with camp with fire roasted marshmallow