A Siren in the Dark (2009)

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Blistering performances.

Another day, another dreadful no-budget indie effort. This one posits itself as a mystery/horror/thriller but it ultimately fails as a proper movie in all of those genres. Instead it seems to promote itself as some kind of gay agenda movie, although the sexual content is surprisingly low and the film instead is happy to offer teasing nudity and not much else. Otherwise it's terribly amateurish, very cheap looking, with murders that are staged badly and stilted acting to boot. The incomprehensible storyline is the final nail in the coffin.

I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this film, unlike a lot of films in the horror genre it stayed away from telegraphing what was going to happen next while giving plenty of clues: "they satisfy your desires and cater to your weaknesses"; my interest was sustained right to the end.Although clearly semi-professional, even if enthusiastically so, there were touches that lifted it out of the ordinary- despite lackluster performances from the majority of the caste. Orion Cross (Joshua) is outstanding: combing the projection of sweet innocence, to match his looks, with pure evil in contradiction to the meaning of his character's name- "Salvation", with a bit more development this boy could go far. The same cannot be said for co-producer and actor James Townsend (Kevin) whose performance remains wooden- and, oh! so, what am I supposed to do here- throughout (as it does in everything else I have seen him in) even though he has numerous credits, mostly for bit parts but some leading roles: "Revenge in Olympia", "Sideline Secrets', and "The Windy City Incident".Also worthy of a mention is Christin Pertel (Janice Gunderson) performance as Joshua's senior partner.Hopefully the multi-talented and overworked, Writer/Producer/Director/Cinemtographer/Editor, Steven Vasquez will be given the opportunity to create something with proper backing and a professional caste and crew, he certainly has the ideas and if not spread too thin could come up with something that will gain him a cult following. This film is a definite improvement on "Sideline Secrets" and "Darker Secrets: Sideline Secrets II"- both still worth watching.It may have helped if some of the tangential story lines had been cut, no matter how entertaining. Its not as if we needed some relief from the action and there is still plenty of eye-candy germane to the plot.I have to agree with the other two reviewers that this is well worth watching and look forward to the next offering from this production team.

Occasionally a movie comes along that completely blows me away and reminds me to never judge a book by its cover. That happened to me twice this week, and this is one of those movies. Don't get me wrong, this movie is definitely a diamond in the rough….really rough. The cast at best is amateurish, the editor seems to be smoking crack on several occasions, and there are plot holes so big you could drive a hummer limo through them. But take a moment to look beyond these flaws and what you are left with is a fascinating and complex story that has more unexpected- ed twists than the court documents from David and Liza's divorce papers. I've been trying all week to explain to my friends why this movie is so good and the best I've come up with is imagine if David Lynch and Christopher Nolan decided to make a big gay murder mystery. A troubled cop gets a late call that may shed some light on a recent missing person case he's been working on. But when the young man and woman start to talk, their story may be more than the cop can handle. Orion Cross plays the mysterious Joshua and it's almost difficult to see his devil- ish turn because of his overwhelming good looks. Todd Tetreault, who plays Officer Cameron Ibanez, looks like a mix of Brad Pitt and Guy Pearce and has one of the most beautiful asses I have ever seen. And his big naked moment is tame compared to the mountains of flesh on display; cut, uncut, bears, boobs – there's truly something for everyone. And the sex scenes are so realistic it would make Queer as Folk fans blush. Co directed by Laura Reilly and Steven Vasquez. If you like light erotic drama, you'll definitely get a kick out of A Siren in the Dark.

This is soft core porn with touches of horror. You may call it what you want, but it is still a "porn film". It's also mostly gay. So who cares about the plot? Will anyone notice? The creators of this direct-to-DVD movie made an effort to produce something mysterious and spooky. The story takes place over the course of one long evening, as a witness ("Danny", played by David Beutler) has a detailed conversation with Police Officer Ibanez (played by Todd Tetreault). The time line jumps back and forth through flashbacks, though the overall idea makes sense.The backdrop for this story is an area of misty mountains hovering over Los Angeles County. Some young men have recently disappeared, and possible foul play is suspected. Officer Ibanez is working on the case. Curiously, he also has psychic abilities. He learns that the young men vanished after picking up a stranded motorist ("Joshua", played by Orion Cross) on a little-used stretch of highway. To solve this mystery, Officer Ibanez must learn the identity of this lost motorist, this intriguing "siren", who lures passing travelers away... But how will he find him? Meanwhile, as the investigation moves along, everyone is sleeping with everyone else. But of course, what would we otherwise expect? That's the point behind the movie, after all! For a low-budget effort, this was quite well done. Not to be taken too seriously.