Someone Dies!

Extraordinary things are taking place inside a Houston apartment.

In Houston, Texas, Detective Jim Jenkins (Graham) has a problem: he has received a note informing him that his daughter has been kidnapped. In order to get her back, he must go to an unknown apartment and plant a listening device under the kitchen sink. So he goes there, where he ends up meeting Glenn (Wessling), the occupier and Jane (Anderson), who is there for her own affairs. What follows is a great deal of misunderstandings, a lot of drama, a terrible event and time traveling.

This feature blends dark comedy with the crime and sci-fi genre. Almost the entire narrative takes place inside the apartment, with Jim, Jane and Glenn interacting with each other and trying to deal with the situation, which becomes more and more dramatic and bizarre. Initially, things between the three protagonists are quite unstable and poor Jim is even assaulted and held captive by the other two. The arrival of Ivan (Edwards), the eccentric landlord, leads to further complications and true to the film's title, someone does end up losing their life. The three main elements that build the narrative are, first of all, Jim's mission to find his daughter, second, the rapport that develops between him and Jane and Glenn and finally, the time traveling investigations, which involve the cupboard underneath the kitchen sink.

The performances of the three leads are one of the aspects that make this feature enjoyable. Graham deserves a lot of credit for his over-the-top performance as a naive guy, who constantly wears a headset and is not on good terms with the mother of his child. Wessling plays a man who is rather childish and not too bright while Anderson portrays the only character who is sensible and does not behave in eccentric ways.

Another thing that this feature has going for it is Petty's funny and interesting screenplay. The plot certainly attracts attention and there is plenty of dark humour and also some toiler humour. An example of the humour would be the part that involves a dead body being ignored by the three protagonists.

Cinematographer Michael Langhausen creates a look for the film that gives it a sort of grindhouse feeling. Petty also worked on the editing and is quite creative with the split screen and wipe techniques and also with the fast cutting sections that involve close-ups.

Interestingly, there is a point where the feature suddenly turns into a music video. This part feels awkward, yet one should still acknowledge the creativity and the fact that the song is amusing.

This feature is basically a dark comedy about a kidnapping that turns into a story about time traveling. Top enjoyment can be found in the dark humour (for viewers who are in to that) and in the entertaining performances.