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Nick Stahl, Jonathan Jackson, Robert Forster, Christopher Clark, Beau Garrett ... see more see more... , Alona Tal , Patricia Kalember , Sammi Hanratty

Haunted by memories of his ex-girlfriend Alice (Beau Garrett), a heartbroken Billy (Nick Stahl) returns home to Northern Virginia seeking solace from old friends. But what he finds there is more disco... read more read more...ncerting than comforting: his best friend Stanley (Jonathan Jackson) has become unstable, mysterious, and withdrawn from those around him. Billy teams up with another old friend, Stanley's roommate Christian (Christopher M. Clark), to find out what's going on, and as they probe Stanley's recent activities, their friend's behavior seems more and more bizarre and frightening. The discovery of blood-stained evidence among Stanley's possessions pulls them deeper into their friend's nightmare-and eventually leads to a violent confrontation that not everyone will survive.-- (C) Official Site

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33% liked it

2,741 ratings

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17 critics

R, 1 hr. 40 min.

Directed by: James M. Hausler

Release Date: October 22, 2010

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DVD Release Date: February 8, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (28)

  • LittleMissBloodAndGuts
    November 7, 2011
    LittleMissBloodAndGuts
    KALAMITY (2010) Independent
    WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: James M. Hausler
    FEATURING: Beau Garrett. Nick Stahl. Jonathan Jackson, and Alona Tal
    GENRE: PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER, MYSTERY
    RATING: 8 OUT OF 10 PINTS OF BLOOD

    PLOT: A thoughtful twenty-something visits his northern Virginia... read more home and tries to decipher a puzzling change in his former best friend in this intelligent, atypical thriller.

    COMMENTS: WOW! Here is another great independent picture produced and filmed in the Washington, D.C. metro area, this time in Fairfax, VA by Fairfax native filmmaker James M. Hausler. Area residents may recognize some of the Dunn Loring, Vienna and Fairfax locations. The bucolic, picturesque residential venues are well suited to Kalamity's themes of how the serene, reassuring appearances of familiar people and pleasant settings can distract us from shocking moral rot and violent undercurrents in the places we least expect to find them. Nick Stahl (Dead Awake, Mirrors 2, Carnivale) delivers a solid credible performance in tune with, but superior to his familiar roles in the horror genre.

    Kalmity is a refreshing change of pace from the usual Tinseltown bunk. Off the trodden path, informal, almost intimately filmed and skillfully executed, Kalamity is one of the most engrossing independent thrillers of 2010. It exhibits undercurrents of mystery and apprehension, while maintaining a cinematically brightly lit, everyday causality that clashes with its macabre patina. While not a supernatural thriller, Kalamity's sense of eerie, steadily mounting dread nevertheless puts it on a level of suspense that approaches Hitchcock's darker chillers.

    When Billy (Stahl) a recent college grad returns home to visit old friends after a traumatic breakup with his girlfriend Alice (Garrett), he finds that his congenial old best buddy Stanley (Jackson) has become oddly taciturn and strangely disagreeable. Worse, nobody has seen Stanley's girlfriend Ashley (Tal) for a few days and Stanley is inflamed at the mere mention of her name. Something is up, and Billy doesn't think it takes a genius to unravel a truth that is conspicuously not being addressed by the pair's mutual friends.

    As the days go by with no sign of Ashley, Stanley's deportment deviates across the line between sanity and derangement, but nobody in Billy's old social circle realizes or is willing to admit that Stan has deeper issues than being a little high-strung. Stanley has a serious anger management problem, and he's violently menacing his own friends.

    When Billy describes to Stanley his own estrangement from his Alice, Stan plunges over the precipice of reason and embarks upon a violent odyssey. His sinister sojourn carries him across the boundary between fantasy and reality with little chance of a sunny outcome. Meanwhile, Billy is slowly putting together the clues behind Ashley's disappearance. What Billy discovers fills him with a loathing consternation.

    Most compelling from a literary standpoint however, is Billy's introspective, extrapolative, and ongoing analysis of the his friends' motivations, personalities and characters. When his inquiry triggers a powder keg of seething tensions, Billy becomes increasingly appalled, disillusioned, and socially disenfranchised by the revelations he unearths, grim epiphanies as to what truly motivates our friends and neighbors and what really makes them tick.

    Kalamity is a tense, pensive film about hidden agendas, twisted, tortured psyches, stark inner realities, and the fragility of the thin facade which hides evil human natures lurking behind pleasant faces and closed doors on quiet, tree-line, suburban streets. I highly recommend this taut, well-acted professionally-shot independent movie. Hausler's work is top notch and cinema enthusiasts should keep him on their radar with regard to future productions.


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Critic Reviews

Mark Jenkins
January 21, 2011
Mark Jenkins, Washington Post

More skillfully directed than written, "Kalamity'' is competent yet never startling, either artistically or viscerally. Full Review

Elizabeth Weitzman
November 9, 2010
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

Stahl should have had a career similar to Sam Rockwell's, blending thoughtful indies with fun popcorn flicks. Instead, he's spinning his wheels in junk like this. Full Review

Kyle Smith
October 22, 2010
Kyle Smith, New York Post

There isn't enough plot in this amateurish mope-athon to fill up a half-hour TV show. Full Review

Stephen Holden
October 21, 2010
Stephen Holden, New York Times

For all its seriousness, Kalamity lacks a steady narrative drive. Full Review

Robert Abele
October 21, 2010
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

Writer-director James M. Hausler seems convinced that deep emotional truths will seep from the screen if he keeps downshifting the pace to an arty crawl and holding his actors in a vise grip. Full Review

Ella Taylor
October 21, 2010
Ella Taylor, Village Voice

Though Hausler's sincerity is palpable, his efforts at world-weary ennui seem premature, and his wisdom about what motivates random violence in the youth of today proves too callow for a satisfying cl... Full Review

Jim Lane
February 11, 2011
Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review

... callow and self-impressed ... Full Review

Brian Tallerico
January 25, 2011
Brian Tallerico, HollywoodChicago.com

With an overdone score, horrendous script, choppy editing, and bizarre tone changes, Kalamity is just weird in that B-movie, straight-to-video way that sometimes distinguishes films into the so-bad-it... Full Review

Maitland McDonagh
November 5, 2010
Maitland McDonagh, Miss FlickChick

A talented cast can't save this low-budget psychodrama about male malaise from its meandering screenplay. Full Review

Frank Lovece
October 25, 2010
Frank Lovece, Film Journal International

Kalamity well describes this katastrophe. Full Review

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