Author of sci-fi/fantasy, horror and adventure/thriller fiction

  • Home
  • The Blog
  • Email List/Contact
  • Interviews
  • Apocalyptic
  • Horror
  • Historical thriller
  • Sci-fi/Fantasy
  • All books

REBIRTH (2016)

June 5, 2017 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

rebirthIn REBIRTH (2016), Kyle (Fran Kranz) lives a life of routine as a white-collar suburban husband and father holding down a meaningless bank job. When he’s visited by his freewheeling college pal Zack (Adam Goldberg), he is invited to let loose for a weekend at REBIRTH, a self-discovery weekend.

Kyle is immediately singled out as not belonging. When he tries to leave, every door he opens leads to new rooms involving seduction, violence and/or being singled out. By the end, Kyle realizes Rebirth does want him to fit in. In fact, it wants to own his life.

This movie has some good execution, excellent acting, terrific premise and plenty of promise. There’s an interesting message here that we’re all yearning for something to help us become free, but even if we find that something, it winds up controlling us. Despite its promise, however, REBIRTH fell flat for me. In some ways, it feels like a bad remake of THE GAME (starring Michael Douglas), while the Rebirthers are presented as part free-spirited anarchists straight from FIGHT CLUB (with Zack playing Tyler Durden), and part ominous cult.

I could have loved this movie if the experiences Kyle had in the Rebirth rooms were in fact cathartic and meaningful, were in fact a rebirth of sorts. That he learned something about himself and became willing to change, perhaps thinking it was for the better but actually for the worse. In fact, that could have been an amazing movie. Instead, it’s just one poorly staged ritual of humiliation or attempted seduction, pointless in the end.

In the end, the film raises interesting questions and could have been truly mind bending, the way it’s being described in some reviews, but for me widely missed its potential.

Be Sociable, Share!
  • Tweet

Filed Under: Movies & TV, The Blog

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories

  • APOCALYPTIC/HORROR
    • Apocalyptic
    • Art
    • Film Shorts/TV
    • Movies
    • Music Videos
    • Reviews of Other Books
    • Weird/Funny
    • Zombies
  • COMICS
    • Comic Books
  • CRAIG'S WORK
    • Armor Series
    • Crash Dive Series
    • One of Us
    • Our War
    • Suffer the Children
    • The Alchemists
    • The Children of Red Peak
    • The End of the Road
    • The Front
    • The Infection
    • The Killing Floor
    • The Retreat Series
    • The Sacrifice
    • The Thin White Line
    • Tooth and Nail
  • GAMES
    • Video & Board Games
  • HISTORY
    • Other History
    • Submarines & WW2
  • MEDIA YOU MIGHT LIKE
    • Books
    • Film Shorts
    • Interesting Art
    • Movies & TV
    • Music
  • POLITICAL
    • Politics
  • SCIENCE
    • Cool Science
  • The Blog
  • WRITING LIFE
    • Craig at Work
    • Interviews with Craig
    • Reader Mail
    • Writing/Publishing

Copyright © 2021 · Author Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in