Greg Swinson and Ryan Thiessen team together to deliver an impressive debut film that, even with all of it’s problems, is still going to blow some of your minds.

In the extremely low budget indie film, five girls face the ultimate experience of terror on the way back from a football game. Finding themselves lost, they stop at a desolate store to find directions, but unfortunately instead are involved in a hit and run leaving the driver of an SUV one headlight short. Inexperienced and frightened the girls flee the accident and speed away down the dark and unfamiliar roads. Shortly they are joined on their blind journey by the pursuit of the one lone headlight, an event that will scar them for life; one mistake made while lost will cost them their innocence and possibly their lives.

This is a difficult film to review because all in all it was awesome, but the fact that one of the actresses (Sandra Paduch) was sooooo bad hindered every single scene she was in. Being a little odd or off key is one thing, but some people were just not meant to be actors and the lead (who I’m told was an emergency last second replacement) is a perfect example. When she screams my skin crawls, when she talks I sigh and roll my eyes. I even found myself screaming at the screen “just shut up, seriously, shut up!” No offense to her, I bet she’s a nice person, but man…

Ignoring her and moving on – let’s pretend that she didn’t exist in the film. FIVE ACROSS THE EYES is an extraordinary example of the talent both Greg Swinson and Ryan Thiessen carry. Shot for a micro-budget the film takes place in a car, in a field and in another car. With absolutely no locations, it’s amazing how interesting the film was. The shots were explosive and energetic, and the grainy look heightened the experience making it more realistic. I quite enjoyed the score and sound design, and the editing was extremely well done (considering they didn’t have a budget for FX, the implied horror was fantastic).

These days I think what Greg Swinson and Ryan Thiessen did is the way to go - make a movie for NOTHING. If these guys can show they can make an entertaining, good-looking film for pennies, imagine what they can do for millions? It’s a shame that they were forced to add Sandra to the film, I think maybe they should have delayed production until they found a replacement. Maybe one day technology will be so good they can just ‘Jar Jar Binks’ her out of the film, God knows it would be infinitely better.