Helen works as a bike courier and lives with her best friend, Molly. One day while on the job Helen gets in a horrible bike accident. Soon after the incident she begins to hear and see things that shouldn’t be there. After countless tests the doctors finally determine that Helen has a tumor in her brain. What’s even more bizarre is that the tumor is all that remains of the twin she never knew she had. Helen’s mental state spirals out of control as her newly awakened twin decides it is time that she comes out into the real world.

This was a film that had a lot of potential, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. The general premise was fine. I liked the idea of a woman discovering that she had a “vanishing twin” and that her bike accident somehow awoke the twin from its slumber in her head. There is a good idea for a film right there. The first 2/3 of the film felt like a series of short expositional scenes meant to set up the big finale. I understand having expositional scenes to help the audience get a bit more background, but this film was almost entirely made up of scenes like that. It made the story feel choppy.

These scenes were also not very well written. The dialogue that took place between the characters felt unnatural, again because the filmmakers seemed to be trying very hard to set up the context of what was happening. Unfortunately this made the film lack any real substance or deeper plot other than an evil twin trying to escape the protagonist’s body. Watching the film there was a lot of the story lost because of the writing of the short, choppy scenes. In the beginning it seems like there is a hint of some Satanic or occult ritual that has to do with what eventually happens to Helen, but it is never revisited or referenced again in the rest of the film. There are also hints at a potential relationship between Helen and a man named Roman, but it is never fully explored. Roman even paints a portrait of Helen that you expect to have more meaning or purpose in the plot, but it is only ever used as a tool to try to frighten the audience (and rather unsuccessfully).

The acting in this film also fell a bit short for me. Alanna LeVierge underwhelmed me as the lead, Helen. Considering this is LeVierge’s first feature film, I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. She wasn’t terrible, but there were times when her performance sounded more whiny and pathetic than anything. It made me not care as much as I should about Helen. Nina Kiri (Super Detention) was a bit more bearable as the best friend, Molly. My biggest issues with Molly didn’t necessarily have to do with Kiri’s acting. It had more to do with the way the character was written. She became unrealistic to me during a more intense scene where she kept going back and forth from telling Helen how messed up she was and then saying “this isn’t you” and I love you.

Everyone knows I love practical effects. The one thing that saved this film was the effects at the climax of the film. What they created was well done, disgusting, and beautiful. It was also the only part of the film where I was genuinely creeped out. All the excitement you had been hoping for during the film finally happened in that moment, and the disturbing event almost made up for the flaws that came before it.

Thinking back on the entirety of the film, it appears that the filmmakers put all their creative eggs in the climax basket. If this had just been a short consisting of the last 15 minutes of the film, I would have loved it. Unfortunately this was a feature length film riddled with plot holes, bumps and bends in the story that were nonsensical, and no real substance. It was a valiant effort, and I will give the film credit for having an interesting idea and an exciting and gruesome finale. Beyond that, I don’t believe this is a film I will be revisiting.

OVERALL RATING: 3.5/10