'Seconds Apart' Movie Review (After Dark Originals)

From After Dark Films, the company behind the After Dark Horrorfest, comes After Dark Originals, a series of horror movies produced by the company itself in-house (rather than purchased for distribution, as the Horrorfest films have been handled). Seconds Apart is one of the five films receiving a limited theatrical release on January 28, 2011.

A group of high school jocks with everything to live for suddenly decide to play Russian roulette at a party until all are dead. Why? It turns out that twin teen outcasts Seth and Jonah (Gary and Edmund Entin) have the supernatural ability to read minds and alter people's realities to control their actions. They've been terrorizing the school and the community for years -- videotaping the results of their fatal human experiments -- but their powers are so strong, they can wipe the memory of their sadistic actions from everyone's minds.

Homicide detective Lampkin (Orlando Jones), meanwhile, doesn't need the twins' help to see haunting visions; he plays images in his mind of his wife dying in the same fire that disfigured him months earlier. When the wily cop investigates the jock "mass suicide," he's almost immediately drawn to the two brothers as suspects. As he draws closer to the truth, Seth and Jonah's relationship is put to the test when Jonah befriends Eve, the new girl at school, and Seth starts to feel like a third wheel. What will he resort to in order to set things right?

Seconds Apart is an unusually intelligent horror movie that doesn't spoon feed explanations or the usual genre clichés. The characters are fresh, fascinating and despite the extraordinary goings-on, real. The emotional drama is organically developed through a series of intriguing relationships: the good twin-bad twin dichotomy, the cat-and-mouse game between cop and suspect, the adolescent romance between outcasts.

The cast excels in their roles, particularly the usually comically-inclined Jones, who showcases genuine dramatic chops as the crafty but haunted detective (though he manages a couple of well-timed moments of levity). The Entin brothers are perhaps even more impressive, as you'd tend to think that by narrowing down the talent pool to only twins, you'd toss out all of the viable talent, but they each display a presence that could carry a movie -- Edmund the boyish, sensitive hero type and Seth the seemingly innocent sociopath next door.

Director Antonio Negret paints wonderful, haunting pictures playing off the uniform choreography of the twins and smartly doesn't try to force scares into a script that is less about fright than about dark characters and their even darker relationships. Seconds Apart might be a January movie, but this Bad Seed-meets-Dead Ringers should certainly be remembered at year end as one of the best horror movies of 2011.

• Acting: A- (Subtly impressive across the board.)
• Direction: B+ (Restrained and picturesque.)
• Script: A- (Smart and unique with well-defined, believable characters.)
• Gore/Effects: B (Not overly gory, but with enough shock value to satisfy hardcore genre fans.)
• Overall: B+ (Easily ranks in the top tier of After Dark's offerings to date.)

Seconds Apart is directed by Antonio Negret and is rated R by the MPAA for violence, disturbing images, language and some sexual content. Release date: January 28, 2011.

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