Ritchie Steven Filippi shows some real talent in controlling the story and moving it even paced from start to finish. The cast all give very strong performances and really emote. The dialog moves nicely between character development scenes, and allow for you to really buy into these people and the nightmare situation they are in. Plus for the first 40 minutes or so you really don't get a sense to who is the killer. More on that later.

The special effects are very minimal, as I stated before-everything is really PG here. There are some small moments with blood and a bit of quick violence, but everything stays mostly off camera and suggestive. Filippi nor writer Evan Bass, every get visceral, or gory with the horror so the effects remain mostly driven by the struggles and fears of these characters. Plus the atmosphere has elements of Hitchcock that play up the melodrama and shadowy backgrounds. Most of the film happens at night so the psychological side really does play out well in "The Eve". The film has a nice, classic thriller soundtrack mixed in that carries the atmosphere and emotion of this nightmare.

Overall "The Eve" is a nice thriller for fans of the more 'Lifetime adjacent' stories that works more on emotion and less on horror. The film really does show Filippi and the rest of the cast and crew's talent, I really could find no fault in the performances, the story, the cinematography or even the toned down scenes that call for violence. My only real complaint is that I wanted to see some more blood and carnage, I wanted to really get into the kill scenes on this one. Plus it would have been nice if there was a bit of decor or something that really played on the whole "New Year's Eve" horror aspect of "The Eve". Still it is a decent "soft" thriller with a devious ending, and it does have the Auld Lang Syne used in a dark and creepy way!

THE EVE is an example of your typical indie horror flick, made without anything in the way of imagination or indeed talent. The story is about the usual party of dull, self-centred characters deciding to holiday at a haunted location and running afoul of whatever lives there. There's very little horror content here, making the whole thing a real turn-off.

The film opens on New Year's eve with a stabbed drunk grown male and a young girl cowering in a corner. Apparently years later we have a group of four spending New Year's Eve on Maratha's Vineyard. Harrison (Evan Bass) a slightly dysfunctional irritating personality brings along his girlfriend Lacey (Miranda Noelle Wilson) without telling the other two in the group. Lacey has intimacy issues and always spends New Years alone. Harrison has had a bad business deal with his buddy Scott (Al Thompson). Scott's former girlfriend Jenn (María DiDomenico) rounds out the group. There is also the creepy neighbor caretaker (Rick Estabrook).

Things are not hard to figure out. In fact too easy. It would have been nice if there was some kind of twist (reverse plot spoiler) i.e. if the childhood killer had been an unseen brother and not the girl. Unfortunately the writing was far too simple. It was painful to sit through knowing what was going to happen with the film proceeding at a snail's pace.

Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.