Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

abitrowdy This could have been a different and much better movie. Apparently I saw a potential depth to it that completely escaped the filmmakers. So I find myself in the odd position of disagreeing with all the other reviewers. What they hated about it I liked. What they liked about it I hated. I was unaware of the filmmakers' link to the splatter film "Hatchet", which I have not watched and have no intention to. So my review of this film is based solely upon its own merits and not on any similarity or differences to some other movie. So, what's right about this movie? I actually liked the slow development of the characters. I came to care about them. I began to root for the budding relationship between the two leads. Was Mason actually autistic, or was he a victim of emotional trauma? Was there hope for him to come out of his shell with the help of his quirky girlfriend Amber? Silly me. I found out too late that the movie makers didn't give a damn about the characters. They were merely fodder for the clichéd "twist" ending. What a letdown. They threw away all the potential for a serious movie by capping it with a cheap Hollywood trick from the threadbare "Screen Writing for Dummies" handbook. So, if you want a "mystery thriller", then the ending of this movie is for you, but you will become impatient with all the unnecessary character buildup preceding it. On the other hand, if you go in, as did I, unwittingly willing to care about people, especially those marginalized by society, and root for them to triumph over adversity, then skip this movie. The buildup will intrigue you and make you care. But the ending will terrifically disappoint you.

Chris Smith (RockPortReview) "Spiral" 12/2/2011After his breakthrough horror splatter hit "Hatchet" Adam Green teams up with friend Joel David Moore to write and direct the suspense drama "Spiral" which also stars Moore in the lead as "Mason" as an intensely quiet and withdrawn painter who works at an insurance company call center. This movie is quite the departure from the blatant blood and gore of his previous film. "Spiral" is really a hard film to classify. It's not really horror, but more of a character drama that happens to have an overall theme of terror. It's also about the nature of friendship between two friends. Zachary Levi (who now plays "Chuck" on the NBC show) is Mason's long time friend Berkeley who knows Mason has some serious issues. There is also Mason's relationship with women, Diana in the beginning and Amber (Played by Amber Tablyn) for the majority of the movie. The movie continues to tease the audience as to weather Mason is a killer or just and average guy dealing with some pretty heavy emotional issues. Mason appears to be a very meek and neurotic guy. He lives alone in an apartment where he paints portraits of women who pose for him. Is Mason as benign as he looks or is there something else brewing inside his tall, lanky body? Joel David Moore's portrayal of Mason is pretty dead on and definitely makes this movie what it is. Zachery Levi is also very strong as the friend who is really in denial that his friend really needs professional help. Amber Tamblyn's character of who else Amber is probably the weakest of the three but in a movie as well acted as this one, she still does give a decent performance. What does she see in Mason anyway?Spiral builds to a suspenseful and sort of obvious climax, but when Mason goes to Berkley for help after an "incident". The rug is pulled out from you in a brilliant "oh my god" twist, but is it the truth or is it just what Berkley wants to believe. He then comes to the realization that Mason isn't quite what he appears to be.

ponchocrazydaze *Spoilers*! If you like Indie films and psychological thrillers, without over the top blood, guts and violence, you may like this movie a lot! Co-written, co-directed and starring Joel David Moore, the film builds slowly but compellingly towards a twisted psychotic finale. Fans of the TV show "BONES" will recognize Moore as the tall, geeky, depressingly emo forensic assistant on the rotating guest list. Moore plays Mason, a painfully shy telemarketer with an obvious talent for and obsession with sketching and painting. He is also obsessed with jazz. (The original sound track is tasty, at times intense and bizarre, but always appropriate to the movie. Written and performed by Todd Caldwell, the music is reminiscent of the late 60's early 70's jazz of Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman.) Mason has this recurring problem with psychotic episodes. The movie does not detail exactly what happened, but it appears young Mason witnessed something horrible being done to his mother by his father. Apparently this tragic event happened around Christmas sometime in the 70's while jazz played in the background. Mason also has an extreme fear of elves and there are the running themes of rain and Christmas. (Santa hats in paintings and a surprise date at a local classic film theater showing "It's A Wonderful Life".) TV's "Chuck", Zachary Levi, in an impressive non-comedic role, plays Berkeley, Mason's long time buddy and only friend. He is Mason's lifeline to reality after experiencing a psychotic episode. He tells Mason to just take his medicine, relax and go back to bed. After one particularly bizarre episode, Berkeley gives Mason a new sketchpad upon noticing the previous pad has been used up to the last page, which is ripped out. Mason is later befriended by Amber who works in the same building as he but on a different floor. Played charmingly by Amber Tamblyn she becomes his new sketch model. He paints a series of poses based on sketches in his new sketchpad building up to the "final pose". One day at Mason's apartment Amber stumbles onto a stash of similar looking sketch pads with different names on each, and the last page ripped out. After a confrontation Amber decides she needs to spend time away from Mason to put things into perspective. At Christmas dinner that night it is implied by Berkeley that Mason does not actually meet the women he sketches and paints, they are figments in his mind. That is why they never show up for dinner. I'll stop my review here, we never do see that final pose, or get the exact details of what happened that tragic last Christmas between Mason's mom and dad. But the end is creepy and twisty and the whole movie is a delight. It'll stay with you awhile. And you'll want to watch it again, perhaps with an imaginary friend. (^o-)

Jackpollins After the great Hatchet, I heard about Spiral, and went to see it right away. I am happy to say it lives up to the greatness of Hatchet, and is even a little bit better. The movie follows Mason (Joel Moore), a mentally disturbed, aspiring artist working for an understanding boss named Berkeley (Zachary Levi, just fantastic in his role). He soon starts a romance with the new employee, Amber (Amber Tamblyn). Of course, as I just explained, Mason is extremely disturbed. This causes some problems with the romance. As Amber digs deeper & deeper, she realizes just how disturbed Mason is. The movie is extremely smart because Mason is a nice guy, he just can't hold back his mental disability. The movie is both thrilling and entertaining, and all three cast members, especially Levi are on top of their game here. This is one of these movies where you know they will have a big twist at the end. This twist is not as good as one might expect. It makes it so you can decide the movie's path, whether or not the twist is true or not. This is the only complaint I have against the movie, that said it cannot stop the movie from being the fantastic movie it is. Definitely on the top of the list of movies that you must check out if you have not already seen it.