Reviewed By
Myron Simons

Analysis
"I know what you did last Blair Matrix with my sixth sense!". I love horror films and this is one of the most refreshing I've ever seen. 'Lost Things' has that unsettling, true-to-life feel of 'The Blair Witch Project'. It takes the archetypal "teens in trouble" formula but then twists the familiar plot into a powerful and unsettling existential psycho-horror story. My Matrix reference is nothing to do with bullet time photography or kung fu, but more about the way Lost Things bends perception of time and throws into question the nature of reality.

Director Martin Murphy is a craftsman and he's got together a great team. The sound track and design is harrowing beautiful. The cinematography, editing, screenplay and direction are congruent, all working together to deliver the story with clarity and atmosphere. Murphy has drawn intense and honest performances from his actors. The Actors well serve Stephen Sewell's terrific script, capturing the darkness, humour and vulnerability of adolescent social/sexual politics. Murphy is obviously working with a small budget but he knows what he's doing so we don't miss the crane and tracking shots at all. Far from it - this is one of those great indie films that exploits and transcends the low budget restrictions.

Key Area	Rating (out of 5)	Comment
Action		Whilst not an 'action flick' the journey is a psychological roller coaster punctuated by short bursts of fast pace crisis.
Tension		It's a slow pace to start with, which I appreciate in these days of high-octane, smart-alec, body-count horror flicks. Whilst being boldly 21st century, Lost Things shares the virtues of classics like 'Burnt Offerings' and the 'Changeling' - films that take the time to have you care for the characters and build a platform of reality that makes the horror all the more effective once that platform begins to tilt. And once that platform tilts, it's a deliriously disorientating spin- out with plenty of momentum and suspense.
Violence/ Gore		There's not a great quantity of gore or violence. I mark it high because it's used to such good effect.
Bare Flesh		There's not a great quantity of sex and naked flesh either. I mark it high because it's used to such good effect.
Plot		A great yarn. The plot has both a strong linear momentum but also plays with time in a wonderful way, reminding me of 'Memento'. It manages to really mess with your head and then assuredly reveals meaning, making sense of what was previously surreal. There's a great 'ah ha' moment, like in 'The Sixth Sense' when suddenly everything you've seen is understood in a new light. I was left with a satisfying, cohesive story along with a sense of mystery, and a desire to watch it again, knowing what I now know.

Verdict Lost Things not only celebrates and exploits familiar cinematic-horror elements, it blends them into something bigger than the sum of its parts and ends up being a wholly original and wonderfully disturbing entity. Complex yet accessible, it creeps in under the skin and continues to seep deeper into the bones. Well worth checking out.