Foresight Killer Instinct (2013) Online

FORESIGHT KILLER INSTINCT is an indie thriller that hails from Australia. The protagonist is a psychic whose home is attacked by corrupt police, leaving his family for dead. He recovers before going on a rampage of revenge. There's some violence here, but mostly this is let down by poor and dated direction which tries to be hip and modern but just looks cheap and rubbishy.

I know very little about director Duncan Cunningham, but the website for his film is very telling about what he hopes to promote. Featuring burning skulls and lots of heavy metal imagery, it seems that Mr. Cunningham is a true fan of the macabre. This director and his group certainly have a flair for the artistic and visual nature of cinema, that is for sure. Some filmmakers may have conventionally well written stories, but have very little to say when it comes time to paint their vision on the screen. Then there are other filmmakers who, despite maybe lacking in one or two other areas, are able to create a visual style that is uniquely their own. While Cunningham's movie may have some areas that come across as amateurish, there seems to be a very definite visual edge that seems unique. Making good use of multiple layers within the post-production work, and using a number of filters and color corrections, Cunningham and his crew craft a dark and morbid looking world that is reminiscent of Michael Mann's work if only his camera were covered by a metal screen that was covered in filth.

Glen Parsons is a local psychic in a corrupt Australian city. When he agrees to help his brother, a well meaning detective, he runs into the crooked hot head Lance Steele. Unknown to some, Steele is actually becoming a kingpin of sorts in the world of crime. When Parsons places a hand on the victim at the crime scene, he finds that Steele was actually the man who pulled the trigger. While this information would certainly be helpful in solving the case, unfortunately Parsons passes out immediately. Being taken back by the strange look that Parsons gave Steele before passing out, Steele and his lackey break into Parsons' home and kill his wife and unborn child. They attempt to kill Parsons himself, but they come up short. Yet, they have left him very damaged. With only vengeance running through his mind, Glen Parsons finds himself making it his mission to track down the killers of the world and end their lives.

There's a definitive love for genre cinema felt within Foresight Killer Instinct. While this also makes it very derivative in many ways, the movie is also made a more fun experience because of this in many ways. I can't be convinced that the filmmakers didn't know how exaggerated their movie was becoming. Some of the characters and their interactions are so over-the-top that they become nearly humorous. The character Steele, the crooked police detective who is more criminal than cop, is the prime example of this. Played to the absolute hilt, his character is threatening, but at the same time he is an over-simplification of every dick'ish police officer that we have ever seen in film. Although this is a movie made by actors who were apparent amateurs, many members of the cast are surprisingly strong and show a decent amount of promise.

The plot often focuses on a very obvious reference to Stephen King's The Dead Zone, but the references don't extend very far other than in the fact that our lead has a very similar power. Yet, the difference comes from the combination of various other things that are borrowed throughout the course of the movie, and this actually gives the title an aura of unpredictability. There's an undercover cop subplot, some dramatic gore that looks as if it were pulled from a decent Troma film, a burgeoning drug war that seems as if it is going to escalate at any moment, and a number of very peculiar sideline characters who walk in and out of our story. Indeed, even our main protagonist fairly peculiar. He can hardly be considered the most sane of individuals. During his introduction, when we first see him use his power, we see just how intense he is when "absorbing the memories" of the dead. Shaking and convulsing as if he were having a seizure, the character becomes more insane as the story presses along. When he goes into revenge mode searching for anyone who has committed murder, he becomes a frothy mouthed demon. The fun thing is that at the start of this movie, there was nothing that pointed in this direction. While the movie surely loves being a genre title, at least they borrow enough that the film somehow becomes original again despite having trace elements from numerous other titles.

Foresight Killer Instinct is hardly a great film, but it is certainly done in a way that makes it something unique. A mix of various ideas that probably shouldn't work, but somehow do, Cunningham and his crew show that they have it in them to make something compelling to watch. Whether or not all audiences will be able to get past some of the amateurish acting, that is another thing, but for those who can forgive some of the small hiccups, they might find a pretty fun little adventure. You can read more about the film via the official website: http://www.cce13.com

A review i found. Directed by: Duncan Cunningham Starring: Martin Cunningham, Michael Edward Williams, Duncan Cunningham I always get excited when I have the chance to check out new indie films. Sure the quality and production values may not be as high as that of a multi-million dollar Hollywood film but most of the time what you get instead is an interesting story told by passionate filmmakers, and of course it's always nice to know what you're about to watch isn't going to be yet another unnecessary remake, sequel, prequel or reboot being churned out by the Hollywood machine.FORESIGHT KILLER INSTINCT is the debut feature film from the Cunningham Clan, a filmmaking collective headed by director Duncan Cunningham. It follows the character Glen Parsons (Martin Cunningham) who is a psychic. His brother – a police officer - Matthew (Duncan Cunningham) brings him along to the scene of a murder to see if Glenn can use his abilities to reveal the identity of the killer. Detective Lance Steel (Williams) is in charge of the investigation and doesn't take too kindly to Glen's appearance at the scene, and with good reason. Glen lays his hands upon the corpse and experiences the series of events which led up to the person's death. The killer was Detective Steel. Becoming suspicious of Glen's knowledge the corrupt Steel and his equally corrupt partner pay a visit to the psychic's home and kill his wife and unborn child before shooting Glenn himself in the head and leaving. Unbeknownst to them Glen has somehow survived the gunshot and now finds himself fuelled by the need for revenge. With uncontrollable rage he rains violence down upon criminals with the ultimate goal of killing Steel. Although the bulk of the film is quite a simple revenge story there are also a few sub-plots worth mentioning. Detective Steel finds himself under investigation by Internal Affairs, Glen's brother Matthew goes undercover to infiltrate a motorcycle gang, and there are various interesting characters entering and exiting throughut the film. It's hard to imagine the filmmakers not purposely making these characters exaggerated in both actions and personality, particularly when it comes to Detective Steel. Steel is the sum of every crooked cop you have probably ever seen in film or television, he is involved in murder, drugs, cover-ups and a multitude of other less than legal activities, and he's not too subtle about it either. Is he a bit over the top? Sure, but what this does is let the audience know without a shadow of a doubt just what he is; the villain. He's supposed to be an unlikeable bastard and believe me he is. And of course there is the tortured psychic Glenn who right from the beginning seems a little unstable (I suppose that's what touching corpses and seeing their last moments of life flash before your eyes does to you). After the violent and deadly altercation at his home however he goes completely off the rails, and directs his anger not only at Detective Steel but any other evil doers he comes across. At first this violence may seem to have no real rhyme or reason to it but if you keep in mind that this man's wife and unborn child have been murdered and he himself shot in the head and left for dead, it's easy to excuse. Although the level of acting here is relatively amateur some of the cast show some nice potential and when considering the low budget and the DIY nature of the film the issues with acting can be easily overlooked. Also counterbalancing this is the fact that the story is interesting and there are some really good looking makeup and practical effects and plenty of blood and gore. Visually FORESIGHT is very distinct and it's apparent that a lot of post production work was done with the use of filters and so on. The overall look is very dark and somewhat macabre and coupled with the metal soundtrack from Melbourne band Aquilus it gives the movie a very unique style. FORESIGHT KILLER INSTINCT is not the best movie you will see this year but it is obvious that everybody involved had a lot of fun and a lot of effort has gone into this debut feature from the Cunninghan Clan. An obvious love of genre films is also apparent and the simple fact that I found this more entertaining than quite a few of the bigger budget Hollywood offerings this year is a good thing. Posted by Jake Cadaverous