The Deaths of Ian Stone (2007) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

UK, USA 2007
Director: Dario Piana
Cast: Mike Vogel, Christina Cole, Michael Dixon, Jaime Murray, Michael Feast, Charlie Anson
Rating: R
Release Date: 9 November 2007 (USA)
Running Time: 1 hour 27 minutes

The Movie Review

All filmmakers probably would have never run out of idea if they had just taken a look at some ancient stories from different parts of the world. The premise of this horror flick is one heck of a good one, and fresh too. Actually I have read about this story before on a Japanese old folk legend book. I thought that, whow it's a highly creative story. Who would have thought that in year 2007, I could actually see a movie about it. And what a relief to find out that this movie turned out to be interesting. As one of the movies picked and distributed by After Dark Films as a part of After Dark Horrorfest, The Deaths of Ian Stone just solidifies the newly-born After Dark existence.

The storyline revolves a guy named Ian Stone. At first Ian Stone is just an ordinary guy who loves to play hockey


The DEATHS Of IAN STONE
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and has a cute girlfriend named Jenny. On one unfortunate night, Ian (Mike Vogel) is killed by an oncoming train. Strangely, he doesn't die but instead living a new entirely different life with a new entirely different girlfriend. After that Ian is continuously being killed in a more strange way and by a strange creature. And the cycle goes on and on. What makes Ian even more confused is the presence of Jenny (Christina Cole) in each of Ian's life but she always appears as somebody else, somebody who is anything but Ian's girlfriend. In his chaotic life and mind, Ian must solve the mystery before the next and more gruesome death comes...

A film with a novelty is already a plus point in reviewers’ eyes, but on the contrary for average moviegoers sometimes that novelty is meaningless to them and probably they would prefer another movie with hackneyed scenes all over it, while they don't realize that it's actually a remake. As in the case with The Deaths of Ian Stone, although everything is new (except for the Matrix-like clothing), the movie seems not very well done. Mainly from the storyline standpoint. After the movie reveals the truth behind its main mystery, thus making you able to guess where the rest of the story is going, then there goes the suspense atmosphere. Moreover it's even developing into more like an animal-gone-wild movie, although the creature creation is anything but cheesy (they are awesome! just like Nightcrawler figure in X-Men 2).

However The Deaths of Ian Stone is still a great movie, an interesting one to be precise. Thanks also to the great performance of Mike Vogel, who could play the bewildered character of Ian Stone very well and convincing. It's really a shame though that (again) it can not hold the mystery atmosphere much longer. But if you could overlook that and want to experience and watch a horror movie with a great and creative premise, The Deaths of Ian Stone is absolutely recommended.