It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Attempting to get over a personal tragedy, a man and his wife find a young woman on their doorstep trying to escape from a gang of attackers who break into their home and force them to battle off the group in order to escape.Overall this one was pretty enjoyable if slightly flawed. Among it's better qualities is the fact that the second half to this one here doesn't really feel connected to the first half here which is for the better since that is a completely uninteresting movie. The second half is a solid series of chases and encounters throughout the house and the different neighboring parts of land which make for some thrilling times here with the film really getting quite enjoyable when it goes for these chases and stalking as that's all memorable and enjoyable. The first several encounters in the house and the later hide-out in the bedroom are great fun with these really piling on the different types of gun to be had with the home-invasion storyline here that really lets this one get some tense, chilling set-pieces up as well as put some energy into the film that has been missing up until then as there's the fine finale that makes for quite an amazing time here with the barn-yard stalking and the revelations in the house next door all come together to deliver a rather nice twist-ending that's quite enjoyable overall. Still, this one here is still held-down by a series of flaws here, all mainly set up from the outset of this one tending to focus more on the drama of a parents still in blame with themselves over the death of their son. This here tends to really bring up a large portion of time on having the two of them take forever in dealing with their conversations and lifestyle in trying to get over the event and re-start their life together, all of which tends to really focus this one on areas that aren't exactly all that horrific and tend to bring up the fact that what happens for the most part here isn't exactly horror. As a drama it's fine but to spend as much as it does in a horror film is a little too much time here on these matters which causes this one to come off as rather bland and uninteresting for the most part. Likewise, the final twist here almost guarantees that this one's just not all that filled with the kinds of graphic kills or brutal stalking that should've happened in a story like this as it effectively removes the option for such matter to occur in the film in the first place in order to keep that part alive and ends up really neutering this one massively. All in all these hold it down but not quite enough to make it unwatchable, just flawed.Rated R: Graphic Language and Violence.

I am a huge fan of Sara Paxton and that's pretty much the only reason why a watched STATIC. I hate to say it, but this movie is lame. It's not suspenseful and scary the way a mystery thriller should be. It's more like a drama with some light thriller elements. Why this movie is tagged "horror" on IMDb is beyond me. Also, the movie poster is VERY misleading. I expected something completely different judging from that poster. Something like RAMPAGE (2009) or THE TALL MAN (2012) or whatever. Also, Sara Paxton only has a small amount of screen time, which is a shame because she is a great actress when given something to work with. Anyways, the plot of STATIC is quickly told:Jonathan Dade (Milo Ventimiglia), a novelist, and his wife Addie (Sarah Shahi) live in a large house in the middle of nowhere. We soon learn that their three-year-old son died in an accident some time ago and that they are having a hard time to forgive themselves and move on. One night, a strange woman named Rachel (Sara Paxton) comes knocking on their front door saying that her car broke down and that she was being followed by strange figures wearing gas masks. Jonathan and Addie are so kind to take her in for the night. Some time later, intruders come to the house and take Rachel away. Then they come after Jonathan and Addie...The plot doesn't offer much. For the better part of an hour, you basically see Jonathan and Addie fleeing from largely invisible intruders wearing freaky gas masks and hoodies. The couple run from one room of their house to the other, hear some noises, argue a bit, then go to the next room and do the same. Then they leave the house, run into the garden, then into the garage, then into the forest, and back to the house again. During all that running, they hardly make any contact with their intruders. You can figure that it gets boring pretty soon.The movie only gets relatively interesting about ten minutes before the credits start rolling. When it is revealed at the end that Jonathan and Addie are ghosts, my initial thought was that we have seen endings like that so many times since THE SIXTH SENSE (1999), it's not really original anymore. The good twist comes a little bit later when you realize that Rachel and her crew are something like ghost hunters who clean haunted houses from spirits that won't leave. That is a pretty clever ending, I give the movie that, but other than the enjoyable ending, STATIC just doesn't offer much. I'm sorry to say.

It's hard to review a movie like this without giving away any spoilers. The twist is too important to the outcome and quality of the movie. 'Static' revolves around a couple, seemingly living in the middle of nowhere, who have recently lost their son. The same night that the husband has completed his latest book a girl arrives on the couples doorstep asking for help from some masked men who are allegedly pursuing her. And so begins their night of terror.For the next 70 odd minutes, we follow the couple in their attempts to escape the masked men, as we would always expect to do in this type of movie, however this time somethings different. Somethings not right. The masked men don't seem to be posing any real threat to the couple. They are unarmed and seem to show no real urgency when given an opportunity to capture/inflict harm on either member of the couple. At the time I was putting this down to poor filmmaking, however I would later learn it was to all make sense.So the movie continues with the usual minor twists being revealed ie. the girl at the door is one of them, they've been watching the couple on surveillance all along etc. when something else begins to bug me. What is the point of the dead son storyline. Is it just more average filmmaking trying to add depth to the characters, as in 'Vacancy', or does the storyteller have a little trick up his sleeve to conquer all my doubts.I was delighted to find it was the latter. The twist being that couple we were following all along were actually the ghosts who were struggling to move on, and the masked men (and woman) were the ghost busters, if you will. Not a completely original twist (I won't ruin any other films for you), but what I liked about it was that it didn't cheat. Not only in hindsight did it make sense (as much as a ghost story ever can), but it left clues along the way. When a mask is tried on by one member of the couple we see that these aren't gas masks as much as they are for lack of a better term 'ghostspotting' masks. There's also the above mentioned points about the masked intruders never motioning to cause harm to the couple, the male member of the couple's seemingly dead body seen with gunshot wounds in the opening frames of the movie and many more. But the one I like the most is actually the tagline for the movie, "If you hear them coming, you're already dead." There is was staring me in the face on the DVD cover before I'd even opened the case. Very clever.Overall a very good film. I hope a lot of people don't turn it off halfway through out of frustration with what may appear to be poor writing and get through to the end when things are explained. Nothing life changing, but certainly a lot more fun to watch than a lot of these lesser known thriller/horrors are.

I watched the trailer of the movie before deciding whether or not to give it a go and it intrigued me enough to watch. It is clear from the first few scenes that there are a few story lines going on here.Filming wise I think it is directed well with some interesting shots and a soundtrack which certainly adds to heighten the suspense.Horror wise I think that anything which includes figures with masks on is always scary and throughout the whole film it kept you guessing as to why they were there, the point and what the outcome might be.I really felt that the whole way through it was tense and suspenseful as a true horror/thriller movie should be, my only disappointment came at the end where I felt the movie recycled and ending which is all to common in cinema today. It would have been so great for it to have been something different to carry on the feeling of the rest of the film, but this sadly was not the case.It is still worth a watch.