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30 out of 35 people found the following review useful: Spiral plays in Portland, 18 June 2007 Author: Roxanne Lennon from United States
Spiral is a well-acted, intense thriller about a lonely, delusional young man trying to overcome his powerful inner demons. In the starring role of Mason, Joel Moore effectively plays a telephone salesperson whose feelings of anxiety and confusion are intertwined with disturbing flashbacks of his former girlfriend. Mason cringes from most of society. His boss (played by Zachary Levi), an arrogant womanizer who knows the circumstances of Mason's tragic past, is his only friend. Gradually, however, Mason builds a relationship with a young female co-worker (played by Amber Tamblyn) who brings out his confidence by encouraging his artistic talents. Yet, Mason's feelings of dread and paranoia are never far away. In fact, deciphering whether Mason's reality is synonymous with truth kept me spellbound throughout the film. The camera work in Spiral is especially outstanding. Sudden, vivid images from Mason's memories take the viewer to his level of turmoil and terror. In addition, shooting this movie in the great city of Portland, Oregon was an excellent choice. The gloominess of the rainy winters fit perfectly with the murky shadows of Mason's mind. The end of the movie has some great twists and surprises for the audience to relish. When all is said and done, Spiral is a wonderfully dark and intense film that holds up to any of today's big-studio thrillers.
29 out of 42 people found the following review useful: Office Space meets Hitchcock, 17 February 2007 Author: Allan J. Cronin from United States
This mystery/thriller has quasi-comic elements in the initial portrayal of the protagonist. But all is deceptive and this well-constructed film holds your interest with a well written script. The charming Amber Tamblyn shows her acting skills and is well cast as the quirky girlfriend character. The acting and pacing are excellent.The office space reference in the summary is due to the fact that the main character, an artist, works at an insurance company as his day job. His high school friend is his boss and tries to help him throughout the film. This is just a little reminiscent of the "Office Space" style parody of such places. If you like Hitchcock and independent film, you will love this one.
12 out of 17 people found the following review useful: See This Film., 2 April 2008 Author: Renee Moody (angelwriter123) from Maine, United States
Spiral is the story of Mason, played by co-director, co-writer, producer Joel David Moore from Hatchet. Mason is a telemarketer, who likes to paint mysterious women, and consumes nothing but peanut butter sandwiches, apples and milk. (Just a warning, before viewing, you may want to be sure to have these items in the house in case you have a sudden craving. Or maybe that's just me?) Mason's life is a mess; he's messing up at work, having panic attacks that end in 3am phone calls, and freaky visions of some waitress. Mason is like a child in a man's body, awkward, scared; he needs a lot of help that he unfortunately isn't getting. Mason's only "friend" is Berkeley, played by producer Zachary Levi, who I hear has a show called Chuck but I've never seen it. Berkeley doesn't so much help Mason, as treat him like crap, then tries to justify it to himself and others by saying that he's being "honest". I think he's said it enough times that he actually believes it either that or he doesn't care, because he treats everyone the same way. One day, Mason meets a woman named Amber, played by Amber Tamblyn of Joan of Arcadia and more recently a great Hallmark movie, The Russell Girl. Amber is happy, bubbly, outspoken, and open book, she's the exact opposite of Mason and for a while, their relationship seems to work. Mason decides to paint her; he starts to seem happy, borderline normal. But, Amber knows there's something in his past, other women he's painted but won't talk about and the harder she pushes the more he pulls away.After seeing co-director Adam Green's film, Hatchet, back in December I wasn't sure I was ready for the 180 into Spiral. I knew this film was going to be different, because for one thing, Spiral wasn't written by Green. This film is Joel David Moore's first as a writer/director but you have to wonder how the director of Hatchet is going to make this film work. I don't know how they did it but Green and Moore did an incredible job, I love this film. It reminds me of Psycho (the original not the piece of crap 1998 remake), the Sixth Sense, and maybe even a little 1408. Spiral already seems like a classic, with a great storyline, amazing jazz score (I'm not even into jazz), great camera work (even the hand-held at the end which makes you just the right amount of nauseous) and memorable performances. I'm not saying that all fans of Hatchet will like this film because I know many of them won't, Spiral isn't hardcore horror and it doesn't claim to be. Spiral is much more psychological, character and relationship driven. But if you like mystery and suspense, with a great twist ending, see this film, you won't regret it. My only wish for Spiral is that it could see a wider audience because the film and filmmakers deserve it.
6 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Imagination and Reality, 23 May 2009 Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
The asthmatic aspirant painter Mason (Joel David Moore) is a lonely and outcast employee of the JZD & J Insurance that is haunted by dreadful nightmares of women. His supervisor and only friend Berkeley (Zachary Levi) tries to approach to him but Mason remains reclusive and alone. He is befriended in the lunchtime by the new employee Amber (Amber Tamblyn) and a couple of days later they date and Mason begins to paint her. On the Christmas Eve, they make love and on the next morning, Amber finds his blocks of identical drafts of different women in his drawer. When Mason discovers that Amber has broken his rule that she could never see his sketch before the painting is ready, he has a violent argument with her. On the next morning, Mason comes to the company and tells Berkeley that he killed his girlfriend, and Berkeley discloses and finds secrets about his strange friend."Spiral" is a low-budget movie supported by a great screenplay with surprising twists; excellent direction of Adam Green and Joel Moore; and magnificent performances of Joel David Moore, Amber Tamblyn and Zachary Levi. The weird character Mason slightly recalls the deranged May, but the plot is ambiguous in "Spiral": I understand that Mason killed all the girls that Berkeley believed were imaginary but it is never clear whether Amber was his first actual victim and the others fruit of his damaged mind or all of them were real. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Círculo do Pânico" ("Circle of the Panic")
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful: great style!!!, 18 July 2008 Author: kabeile from Cologne, Germany
Now this is really a movie for anybody, who is not only focused on getting a gripping story when going to the movies. Everyone who can get the kicks out of nicely staged and directed pictures, visual effects, lighting and the whole scenery will be pleased to see this one!I got interested in the movie because of its director, Adam Green. Unlike many other users here i saw HATCHET on the 2006 Fantasy-Film-Fest in Germany and loved it! So i looked through IMDb from time to time, to see what he would do next.First of all i have to warn all the "Horror/Gore/Splatter/whatever"-Fans. This movie has absolutely nothing in common with HATCHET except for its director and leading actor! Second: Don' t watch the trailer! It is a real spoiler, and it lets the viewer assume that SPIRAL would be a psycho-thriller, with a really dark atmosphere all the time and shock-moments every five minutes or so. It isn't - but that is what's best about it.Other users compared it with Hitchcock and i have to say, that this reference also came to my mind when i watched the film. It's a mixture of a really gripping relationship (love-story???) and a character study that every now an then has its dark undertones. Only at the end there are real classical and modern thriller elements. The plot and the whole atmosphere really reminds me of my favorite Hitchcock movies like "Vertigo" oder "Marnie".Of course you can see, that Adam Green is still trying to find his unique style, that the actors do their best but are not yet at the peak of their acting abilities and that this is an indie-film with a small budget. But after all i would say, that this is without doubt one of the best movies i have seen the last months!
13 out of 22 people found the following review useful: Adam Green's best yet!, 14 November 2007 Author: coolvin91 from United States
I saw this a while ago at Fantastic Fest 3 and this certainly was the best of the fest (coming second only to TimeCrimes I believe)! After being slightly disappointed by Adam Green's "Hatchet" (drove 300 miles to see it and it just wasn't all it was amped up to be...), I didn't know what to expect in this one but I was pleasantly surprised! The movie starts out with an eerily reclusive telemarketer with a knack at painting who is befriended by an equally awkward, but in an quirky way, woman (amazingly portrayed by Amber Tamblyn). The acting was just AMAZING from every actor on the screen. The cinematography was beautiful and it was the atmosphere that really sold me. Although it is considered a thriller, the jazzy and mysterious background music PLUS the amazing lighting gives it a "film-noir" touch. The movie is slow moving but draws you in so deep, you'll be sitting on the edge of your chair waiting for more! The only disappointment is having to see it end, but the ending was great, packing in two awesome twists! Fans of Adam Green, Jazz music, Film noir, or even Horror/Thrillers will be pleasantly surprised by this masterpiece! My rating: 10/10 This will be released in early 2008 from Anchor Bay to theatres.**Edit: Although it deserved a theatrical release, Anchor Bay decided to put it out on DVD Feb. 19th!
6 out of 10 people found the following review useful: Excellent film. A must see for indie film fans., 12 March 2008 Author: kaylarhaney from United States
"Amber" is probably my favorite character that Miss Amber Tamblyn has played thus far, that being said, Spiral is probably my favorite film that Amber has done so far. Same goes for Joel Moore as Mason. Very well written, creatively filmed/produced, great performances by everyone involved. I love getting attached to characters in a movie, which is something that the actors bring to this one. They all kind of grew on me. That's a rarity in the film industry today, but this cast really did an amazing job. There's a few other actors that could have maybe played the parts well, but with anyone else the performance and believability in the movie would have been a little on the blah side. This is some Incredible work, kudos to everyone involved. If you're an indie film fan with an open mind, which most of us have, you will love Spiral.
7 out of 12 people found the following review useful: An awesome dark independent character study that grabs you and never lets go, 28 August 2007 Author: jedi_ninja from London, England
I had the opportunity of seeing Spiral as part of the Film 4 Frightfest 2007, on Monday 27th August. I have to say that this was an amazing film that really struck a cord with me. The main character is developed with such love and empathy that by the end you want to juxtopositionaly love him as well as be horrified by his actions. The double twist at the end is brilliant and keeps you guessing right until the last few seconds of the film, the end result being that you have to revisit some of your earlier assumptions, particularly regarding the attitudes towards the secondary character of Mason's boss and friend.In short, anyone who is a fan of love stories, horror, or dark independent films like Donnie Darko will love this movie. Highly recommended, and especially will resonate with those like myself who grew up as quiet intelligent outcasts; the "odd" kid at school. :o)
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: My Review, 27 July 2008 Author: joemamaohio from United States
Recluse Mason (Joel Moore) has a dead-end job: working as a telemarketer for his friend Berkeley (Zachary Levi). His only joy is in his painting.One day he runs into Amber (Amber Tamblyn), and he slowly begins to open up to her about who he is, and he begins to paint her.Things go downhill as Amber discovers she isn't the only girl that Mason has painted...and has disappeared. Yet there's another question that this film raises...is Amber all in Mason's head, or is she a real person? I thought the script was fresh and original, with great acting (especially by Moore and Tamblyn), and is really eerie with the questions you have throughout the film. You think you know what's happening, but then the end hits and turns you for a loop.Definitely a good underground movie to see.
Creative Psychological Thriller, 22 September 2009 Author: (Greatornot) from United States
Troubled childhood...Mom murdered by Dad and you have the set up of a lonely,asthmatic,delusional, young man trying to eek out a living as a telemarketer in Portland Oregon, filled with demons in his head. I felt this film was genius because it truly captured the progression of a serial killer in the making. Basically this was a prequel of Masons life as a serial killer. You had a creative , painter dabbling in imagination of women with delusions seeming oh so real. When the film convinces its viewer that Mason was just delusional, and has harmed no one, the viewer is in for a shock. Despite the fact that, lead actor Joel Moore reminds us of 'Ross' from Friends, the movie still shines , mostly because of the creative material. Amber Tamblyn is so so as Amber. Film could have explored the psyche of her character somewhat, but chose not. Mason had one friend , his boss , though a womanizer, had a heart of gold when it came to Mason , as well as the most patience ever, in dealing with Masons idiosyncracys and blow ups. Truly a gem of a film . One can assume that Mason is on his way to being a serial killer, terrorizing the USA. Very cleverly written and refreshing.
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