11-11-11 and Rehashing a Christian Mystique: A Movie Review

Director/writer: Darren Lynn Bousman (screenplay).

Cast: Timothy Gibbs, Michael Landes and Brendan Price.

The real 11-11-11 has come and gone with no globally reaching incident to report. Aside from that day also being the premiere for a movie to play on that auspicious number, director/writer Darren Lynn Bousman has other plans in mind. His idea is based on the assumption that as long as the calendar year is written in the two-digit format, he could create a tale of cosmic horror that centers on the life of an author, Joseph Crone (Timothy Gibbs).

This director turns the number into a marker for the incidents that has happened in Crone's life. His wife and child died on 11-11, his mother died giving birth to his brother, Samuel (Michael Landes) on 11-11 and even more recently, he was in car accident that happened with 11-11 as an anecdote. The incidents do not take place on the calendar date — since the phenomena only happens once every 100 years — but on 11-11-11, something larger will take place that will threaten all of humanity.

Technically, that should have happened on the 11th year Anno Domini, on the 11th month and the 11th day following the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Any other year really does not matter or makes sense. The fascination with numerology notwithstanding, Bousman's idea is more of a marketing gimmick than a real play on the superstitions attached to the triadic combination of the number eleven.

Crone is the only one seeing the pattern. He has to find out what this has to do with his priest brother and dying father. Gibbs is very invested in the role to make him believable and apologetic. The character comes through as interesting, but Gibbs is no Gregory Peck. The two have two different acting styles.

Set in Barcelona, the picturesque quarters of the city make for a nice moody film a la The Omen. While this classic film is a lot quieter with the importance of numbers and their biblical meaning, the direction of Bousman's product has that familiar flow to it. The scare that is being built upon is more for Crone to react to than the audience. And he does a good job. At the same time, because of this detachment, this film is not as engrossing as some viewers would hope.

Other possible reasons include the subject matter. The family dysfunction is not all that interesting from the get-go until it develops much later. The other issue is with the religious subject matter. The tiny moments where the Bible is quoted only guesses at the inevitable. Maybe instead of the holy book, Bousman should have considered another superstition that’s not as well known.

To draw upon the beliefs of another culture would be far more interesting than to use the Christian analogies again. Not even the cult of shadow figures in this film can save the day.

Overall: 5 out of 10.

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Posted in: 2011,2011 release,christian,darren lynn bousman,horror movie review,movie poster,movie review,mythos,religion