Seconds Apart
Seconds Apart (2011)
US (dir. Antonio Negret)
Cast: Gary Entin, Edmund Entin, Louis Herthum, Orlando Jones, Marc Macaulay, Earl Maddox, Dave Jensen, Ryan Chase
Synopsis: Seth and Jonah are murderous twins who share an evil kinship. Damned from the moment of their births, the brothers possess a gruesome talent for telekinesis – a power they use in the most horrific ways imaginable. As their fellow students meet gory fates, the local law enforcement begin to suspect the twins’ connection to the depraved murders. What started as a jealous rage escalates into a supernatural showdown – pitting brother against brother, evil against evil
Review: Finally, a modern day take on the evil twins sub-genre that features a pair of deliciously evil and sexy (real-life) twins! Edmund and Gary Entin (from the atrocious “Rest Stop” films, unfortunately) play Seth and Jonah Trimble, sadistic, telekinetic twins working on a documentary they refer to as “The Project” in which they film people committing suicide as a result of their mental manipulation. The purpose of “The Project”, though never explicitly mentioned, is obviously to elicit some sort of emotional response from either of the twins. After watching the gory footage of a Russian roulette game they orchestrated on a group of jocks from their high school, the twins discuss whether they feel anything from the proceedings. One twin is adamant that he feels something, but the other dismisses it. However as the film progresses, it becomes more and more evident that the twins are drifting apart emotionally.
A troubled cop with a tragic back story, Detective Lapkin (in an impressive dramatic performance by former MadTV comic, Orlando Jones), begins to investigate the twins and develops pretty strong suspicions that they are involved in the recent string of what appear to be suicides at the twins’ high school. However with the twins’ telekinetic influence constantly interfering, it is almost impossible for Jones to stop them, unless of course, the bond between the twins is somehow broken… thus leading to the introduction of Eve, a new high school student who begins falling in love with (awwww…) the “good” twin, Jonah.
Sadly, this is the only solid entry in this year’s abysmal crop of After Dark Originals. Fans of last year’s “Dread” will most likely enjoy this sophomore effort from young, up-and-coming director Antonio Negret, and even those who don’t feel a strong affinity for it will at least agree that more of these creepy, killer twin movies should be out there. You could say that “Seconds Apart” basically amounts to a compilation of scenes showing the twins using their powers against people while Lapkin, who is savvy about the twins’ powers is always just a few steps behind them, doing everything he can to drive a rift through them; however the film spends adequate amounts of time developing both the story and almost all of the major characters. We also get to know Lapkin’s tragic back story a little better (his wife died in a house fire, and he was badly burned trying to save her) through various hallucinations and dream sequences which unfortunately culminate in a ridiculous scene where Lapkin believes he is trapped in a snow globe. What I liked about the time spent on Lapkin (despite the snow globe entrapment scene) is that we get a more drawn out characterization of what could easily have been a forgettable ancillary character. And with particular attention paid to developing a dark and ominous atmosphere that prevails throughout the entire film (from sharp dialogue to a grim colour palette) the film is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the After Dark entries for 2011. There are even a couple of unexpected (and maybe one or two expected) twists along the way. One twist in particular is so cleverly done you almost want to smack yourself in the forehead for not having previously thought about it.
I’ll confess I spent most of the movie figuring out which twin is which, but eventually you can readily distinguish between the two, even when one tries to imitate the other. It’s great to have them be so indistinguishable because it allows you to recognize them based on their words and actions alone, rather than have one sporting some ridiculous, dead give-away scar or other obvious marking. The Entin twins do a great job in their roles (which I’m sure is no great stretch for them considering they really are twins) and their every movement appears synchronized and their mannerisms nearly identical. Though the twins sleep together and Seth eventually grows jealous over Jonah for having a girl come between them, nothing incestual about their relationship is ever implied. Perhaps this could have been an interesting avenue to explore, but the fact that the director didn’t is alright by me. “Seconds Apart” remains a strong entry in both the evil twins sub-genre and the roster of After Dark films.
Hmmm… Perhaps I will re-watch “Rest Stop”
3.5/5
