Wonderful character development!

not horrible nor great

A Disappointing Continuation

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

If you are expecting a post-apocalyptic action-packed white-knuckle thrill ride, this is not your movie. I enjoyed the moderate pace of this film. The gentle, guitar soundtrack sets the perfect tone. The acting of the two leads is perfectly competent, as it is with nearly the entire cast. No real complaints there.I am a screenwriter myself, and found the script, dialog, directing and cinematography to be excellent. Kudos for the camera work; someone really knows good outdoor light. The interiors were apparently real locations and look good. The location shooting outdoors was even better. Perfect, actually, and really put you IN the movie.What really shines about this film is the excellent story. It makes you realize what a fragile thing a functioning society is. My hat's off to everyone involved for the entire production, beginning to end, because this film makes you think.

I watch movies, especially B movies. I admit I am a glutton for punishment because I love zombie flicks and most of them are horrible. I find good in almost every movie I watch. This movie has nothing to make it redeemable.But, no zombie movie I have ever seen (and that includes the Italian zombie flicks) approached the movie "Empty" for absolutely trash. The lead female (Ashley C. Williams) might be able to act, but she never demonstrates it here. The lead male needs to find a line of work that has nothing to do with show business for he never even approached being a believable character.They had a basic idea of societal breakdown following a lack of gasoline worldwide, which has many opportunities for great story but they found none of them. Both "Piper" and "Dell" are utterly unlikeable characters who spend the entire time demonstrating zero charisma or chemistry. The female lead has lines written to show her as a vapid silly little twit, as an example, she begs her boyfriend to stop hitting the guy who just attacked them and (for a young broke couple) throws money away like a Hilton-Heiress while her boyfriend is presented as a jobless loser with a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas and the reasoning ability of a drunken pre-teen. Both of them take every dangerous path, every ignorant path and every self-damaging path they are offered.Both of them treat each other like enemies rather than lovers or friends, and the male lead is basically a whiny child. While watching this movie I kept hoping they would both be tortured to death graphically for hours so I could enjoy their karmic reward but it never happens. It is reported that this movie had a budget of US$10000, and I have to assume they spent USD$9999 of it on getting drunk enough to make them think it was worth doing.IMDb shows it as having a rating of 4.7/10 from 176 users, I have to assume that over 100 of those votes came from the family and friends of the cast and crew.

OK, let's get right down to it. Was it a low budget film? Yes. Were there technical issues throughout the film? Yes. The audio at times was indistinguishable, the lighting was off and on, technically in many ways it was a disaster.However, the script I felt was brilliant! It was so well written and acted, it compensated for the technical challenges. And there were a LOT of technical challenges. There was a few scenes where you could hear this low rumble. It had my wife extremely confused what those sounds were, until I told her it was the microphone. Either the wind, or someone bumping the camera or mic. Very "video 101" issues that anyone would realize taking on the challenge of filming.But again, it was so well written and acted, I found that 5 mins into the movie I was hooked! I actually HAD to watch it to see what would happen. I see a lot of independent films/videos, and barely 20% are worth actually sitting through. This was in that 20%! The characters were so well defined and acted, I found myself hating and loving either characters. I was not thrilled at all with the ending, because I just felt it contradicted that characters actions and morals. So for me I would have ended the story much different. I won't comment here as I don't want to write any spoilers to the film. You really should see this film and make your own judgement. But when you do watch the film, understand that there are technical challenges and you just have to accept that.If you can accept the technical challenges, you are definitely in for a great ride. I rarely, RARELY find a movie that has two lead characters that play off each other so well, that their relationship alone carries through the movie, very rare. Which is why I have to say, in many ways I absolutely LOVE this film! Specifically for the acting, writing, and direction I should say.I especially felt that there was a fantastic build from the beginning of the story, to the end. Wonderful character development. If it wasn't for the ending, I honestly can say I feel this movie would be damn near perfect from a story standpoint. I can't imagine if the director/producer had more funds to have a better camera, better audio option, better sound effects and supporting soundtrack, what this film would have been like.With all due respect to the people that have reviewed this feature, I think you have to just accept the fact that there are technical challenges that are apparent in the film. As far as I'm concerned, I give this an 8 specifically because of the story, acting, and even the direction wasn't bad with the challenges at hand. I think the shot choice could have been better, but we don't know what challenges the director had with time, etc.Personally for me and my wife, we think this story was very well done. I have watched it twice now, and will see it again definitely! I am an actor, writer, and director, and will be filming my first short next year. I understand the challenges with the filming process and can say this. For this director, producer, and actors, to dedicate themselves to a project with a shoe string budget and still come out making a movie that grabs your attention, gets you talking, and communicates like it does with so many variety of topics, I say "BRAVO!" to the cast and crew! Well done!

Very well made, considering the microscopic budget. The premise is great, both leads (Ashley & Jon) turn in excellent performances as the couple caught up in an increasingly lawless situation, as America runs out of petrol. Their bickering and arguing comes across as very authentic, and often very funny as well. The tension at times between the couple is palpable. There is one slight problem I had, the fact that the two of them don't watch the television as soon as they reach the house, but I can live with that! There are some quite gripping moments when things get out of hand. All in all, a great drama/thriller film made by an independent company on a shoestring. Well done.