What a beautiful movie!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

My partner first became smitten by Matthew Montgomery after watching him in the Internet "Star Trek" series/homage "Hidden Frontiers." Montgomery's appeal is easy to understand: he is an attractive guy with considerable screen presence, and he can act. My partner's growing Montgomery crush led him to watch "Back Soon," a movie he liked so much that he suggested we include it in our intermittent Matthew Montgomery "Film" Festival."Back Soon" is the story of a Logan (Windham Beacham, who really should trademark his name), a young actor mourning the death of his wife (Maggie McCollister), who becomes friends with – and the lover of — Gil (Matthew Montgomery), the ex-gang member who buys Logan's house. This is all promising, setting the stage for a thoughtful exploration of grief, love and the nature of attraction. But writer-director Rob Williams reneges on that promise with some bad writing, made worse with some "Touched by an Angel" supernaturalism coming into the story by act three. A more gifted writer could've pulled off this divergence into the spiritual, but Williams' script has a hard enough time making the physical world convincing without exploring ghostly realms. A more gifted writer—especially one doubling as the director—might have realized that Montgomery just wasn't gruff enough to pass as a former Latin gang member (not to mention the street gang back story just didn't work) and rewrite the part to better fit the actor. A more gifted writer might have been able to make Spencer, Logan's Mexican-hating brother-in-law, seem more like an actual racist instead of a parody of one. A more gifted director would have realized Artie O'Daly playing straight Spencer as if he's a bitchy queen telegraphs a story twist miles away.Most of the cast are capable in their roles, even if they don't always fit them. Beacham is appealing as Logan, though it's interesting that in portraying an actor he is rather flat in the scenes featuring Logan auditioning. Even though I never bought Montgomery as a former gang member, he was another bright spot in this movie. I never believed Maggie McCollister (billed here as Maggie Foster) and Beacham as a couple, either, but McCollister's performance showed her as one of the more polished actors in the cast. Not polished but better than anyone would expect is gay porn star Bret Wolfe as Gil's flamboyant – and improbable – best friend. Wolfe's performance here suggests he could fill the roles that used to go to a pre-op Alexis Arquette.I can't be totally dismissive of "Back Soon." Beacham and Montgomery have some nice moments together and it's clear that the people involved have their hearts in the right place. Plus, the movie earns points for featuring mystery novelist John Morgan Wilson in a cameo. I really wanted to like this movie as much as my partner did, but the story's potential is botched by an amateurish script, clunky directing and spotty production values. Still, I'm looking forward to continuing my explorations into the works of Matthew Montgomery and hope that eventually he appears in a movie that's actually shot on film.

After reading the reviews for this movie, I was really hesitant to watch. Once again I proved to myself, sometimes you just have to see/do some things for yourself.First off, is the writing, directing and acting as bad as some have said? No it's not - nor is it Oscar-worthy either. You must remember that this is an indie film with a limited budget so the director doesn't have 30-40 takes each scene to find the hidden gem. Some scenes are better than others, no doubt. But the sum of this movie is definitely better than a few of its parts.There were several references to the movie's "supernatural tendencies" and "unbelievability". I found the story really interesting and fresh. If you're looking for the typical gay indie film that focuses on random hookups and erotic sex scenes, yeah you're going to be disappointed to actually find a STORY here that you need to follow. I wonder if Gil were a woman, would the other reviews have been so pointed? All in all, good effort and interesting story. I'd recommend it.

I couldn't even finish this film. Once they got into the fact why they were drawn to each, it became unbelievable. The main character's dead wife died the same day his lover did. It's one thing if a "straight" man fools around just for the sex, but it's really a stretch if you try to bring the supernatural into the picture to explain why he switched to guys practically over night! Give me a break who wrote this crap! I've been out of the closet for nineteen years and I've lived in San Francisco for fifteen. I've never met a guy that suddenly has an "awakening" and he just starts sleeping with guys. This is some writers fantasy of finding the perfect guy that doesn't have a history and is pure as the driven snow. I find this film to be a bit homophobic, showing the other homosexuals as one dimensional and the new ones as caring and deep. The writer clearly has issues about his own sexuality and can't even accept his own kind. Let's face it, if you're a gay man and you get married to a straight woman in the beginning of your life, sex with another man is always in the back of your mind! Written from someone with lots of experience!!!!!

Two people involved in fatal accidents on the same day (a woman in a car wreck and a man in a drive-by shooting) simultaneously end up at hospital emergency rooms, and their spirits meet with the proverbial white light in the background. The woman dies, but the man is brought back to life. However, their spirits become intertwined, and her spirit influences his subsequent actions. This is the main premise of the story, and it is a decent concept.The idea is set-up fair enough: the first two-thirds of the movie lead up to that ah-ha moment where the underlying premise is revealed via flashbacks (yet the remainder is predictable - the spirits eventually become unintangled). But, the movie just doesn't work primarily because the characters (Logan - the woman's husband who becomes attracted to Gil, Gil-the man brought back to life who is drawn to Logan by the woman's spirit, Spencer - Logan's friend, Jamie - Gil's friend and the rest) aren't that believable. Their credibility is ruined partly because the dialogue and direction are horrible and partly because the actors are just really bad. It was frustrating and annoying to keep watching them try to make this story work. For example, in one scene with Logan, Gil and Spencer, Spencer goes on a bigoted tirade directed at Gil but it elicits very little reaction from either Logan or Gil. Here, the actions and reactions are unrealistic.When the issue causing tension between Logan and Spencer is revealed, Spencer's performance is over-the-top and Logan's reaction is just flat. The sleep-walking booty call scene is so far-fetched and ridiculously acted that one simply watches in utter disbelief. Toward the end of the movie Gil is nearly killed again, and this time the woman's spirit separates from him. In the hospital recovery room He and Logan ponder whether their relationship has any future now that their former menage a trois has become a twosome. This is the final scene and one of the most dramatic parts of the story but the performances are so weak that it seemed like I was watching a shoddy high school play or at best a third rate community theater production. The funny/sad thing is that within the movie a clip of a sexploitation flick that Logan acted in is shown, and he and Gil joke that the acting was horrible --- yet, it's not that different from the rest of the movie.The notion of spirits lingering around after death has been done before in dramas, and done well in films like GHOST, HEAVEN CAN WAIT/ HERE COMES MR. JORDAN and TOPPER. The idea underlying this film provides an interesting twist to the spirit-lingering concept, but it's an idea that's very poorly executed.