The Film follows Angela Wood(Lynda Gordon), a tabloid reporter for The National Inquisitor who's struggling with personal demons-the incestuous relationship she endured with her father(Bub McCarthy)-and with a real demon, a serial killer known as The Twilight Slasher(Tim Pugliese). During the course of the movie, Angela must deal with both.
Shot on a minuscule budget, "After the Beep..." can't be held to the same production standards as a film backed by a Hollywood studio, so the bare-bones sets can-and should-be overlooked.
What one notices throughout is a writer and director learning how to stack the elements of a story to form a cohesive whole. Knight does a good job of that. He's enormously resourceful and his film is an admirable effort in spite of its few shortcomings.
The subplot about Angela's incestuous relationship, for instance, seems forced-Knight does little with it and one senses he included it to be sensational and to help shape and soften Angela's abrasive character.
It does neither. The addition only serves as a peculiar sidebar, a distraction in a film whose running time is so brief, focus on the central story-that of The Twilight Slasher-becomes even more crucial, leaving little room for indulgence.
Still, as rough as the production sometimes is and as poor as the performances are-Knight needs to rmind his cast that less is more-there are glimpses of what's to come. Knight is getting a very public education-he's learning the art of filmmaking through trial and error mixed with skill and determination. Those qualities-coupled iwth his clear love of the medium-will ultimately serve him well.
Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Monday and Thursday in the NEWS, and Tuesday and Thursday on "NEWS CENTER at 5:30" and "NEWS CENTER at 11."
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