1/5 Pure and utter garbage...
  by Biz (Jersey)
I am getting sick and tired of indie film makers writing glowing reviews and having their friends contribute glowing reviews on Amazon for their worthless productions. This is the second time I have been suckered into buying a terrible DVD based on the positive reviews posted. Well, no more. I am hip to the scam and will be much more disconcerning in the future. And that my friends is a "Promise"..

3/5 Neither as bad nor as good as advertised
  by P. Mann (Los Angeles)
As I write this review, there are eight previous reviews for this film. Most appear to be by friends of the cast and/or crew of the film, and one simply calls the film "pure and utter garbage" without offering any reasons in support. I do not know anyone involved in the film, and I don't think it's utter garbage.

In "Promise," a young couple, Jesse (Kurt Kubicek) and Selene (Noelle Wheeler) are on their way to a camping trip when they are stopped on the road by a police officer. Before they know it, they have been ambushed by an apparently paramilitary group. Selene is kidnapped, and Jesse flees into the woods alongside the road. Selene's abductors take her to a house run by Abraham, a religious patriarch apparently modeled slightly after Warren Jeffs, the polygamist leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints. (You can read a true story about that group here or here.) The rest of the film deals with Jesse's attempts to stay alive and rescue Selene.

In many respects, "Promise" is no different from big-budget fare like Wrong Turn, The Hills Have Eyes, or any number of films in which an apparently innocent road trip ends with an encounter with a deviant group intent on mayhem. There are several implausibilities (such as Jesse's ability to outwit and outmaneuver people who, judging from their military outfits and weaponry, probably practice quite a bit with guns), too much stereotyping, and a few other problems. Moreover, unlike its big-budget kin, "Promise" has obvious limitations, especially regarding sound. Everything is audible, but the full, ambient sound of big-budget films is not here. You know you're hearing an independent film.

But "Promise" is competent and then some. The two young leads are sometimes a bit wooden but for the most part do a good job, and one performance, by Seth Gandrud as one of the lead members of the cult, is extremely good. The effects are limited but generally good. As for Tiffany Shepis (Nympha), she has very little screen time but does contribute the only gratuitous nudity, albeit briefly.

DVD extras include producer's commentary, crew's commentary, an audition by Ron Bown (who plays Abraham), bloopers, and the original trailer. There are also trailers for a few other low-budget films.


1/5 TOTAL CRAP
  by Jeffery J. Wunsch (AUSTRALIA)
DON,T WASTE YOUR MONEY- THE COVER LOOKS INTERESTING - THE FILM - IF YOU CAN CALL IT THAT IS RUBBISH - I THRU MINE IN THE BIN ALONG WITH EARTH DAY - BOTH A WASTE OF TIME & MONEY & MUST OF BEEN SHOT FROM SOME CLOWN THAT OWNED A HOME VIDEO CAMERA , IT BROKE MY HEART THAT I HAD TO GIVE IT ONE STAR WHICH IS TO MUCH FOR SUCH CRAP.

1/5 Terrible movie - good reviews are a scam
  by Andrew F (Seattle, WA)
This movie is produced, I believe, by the same company that published the trash that calls itself "Methodic". I got suckered into buying both this movie and "Methodic" by the good reviews on here. This movie is horrible. Let me count the ways:

1. A $200 budget, and that was used to buy the cast beers. There is no budget. None. No special effects. No lighting. This movie looks like it was shot with a camcorder, and not even a high-def camcorder because this film isn't in a wide aspect ratio.

2. Terrible acting. I don't know who is writing these reviews that claim any of these actors or actresses are up and coming - I suspect their parents are, or the actors themselves. I rather watch dead goldfish float in an aquarium than watch these people act.

3. Horrible plot. I'd write more about this, but I couldn't force myself to watch more than about 20 minutes before I broke this DVD in anger and thew it in the trash.

Absolutely do not buy this movie.

4/5 A surprisingly good indie horror film
  by Julie Woolard (New York, NY)
I wasn't expecting much when I watched this film, but was really surprised at how sucked in I was. By about mid-way through the film, I really wanted to know what happened at the end. Indie horror films can be very hit or miss, but you should really check out this one...it's good.