Conceptually good, with some neat special effects that belie the low budget. However, the acting kinda sucked, and the script wasn't that hot. It felt like a pilot for a tv show at times, which while not a bad thing, certainly isn't what I expected after the rave reviews on this page.
My friend and I watching Time Trap on Netflix Party:
Her: This must be the first movie ever to mix aliens, cavemen, time travel and teenagers.
[Some time later]
Me: I like your description of "the first movie ever with cavemen and aliens".
Her: And teenagers and time travel and cowboys. Missed those zombies tho.
Me. Gotta save something for the sequel.
I expected a cheesy sci-fi movie, but I was wrong: the concept is promising , AND it turns out it's well directed and the actors are not (that) bad ^^. For such a low budget with such a great concept, I really think the result is pretty good. The only thing that I thought was rushed is the end: it would have deserved some 30 more minutes, even with a low budget. I mean they did a great job for the main part of the movie while low on cash, which means they could have done the same job with the end. Pure laziness? Or producers playing safe? I bet on the 2nd possibility.
In any case, really good movie.
Low budget. Contains mostly teens. That's not a good recipe... but... I have to say this is a small gem. The teens aren't annoying and the story is cleverly constructed - no-one is stupid or obnoxious.
The premise: A small group heads into a cave system only to find that it contains some very odd time effects.
I can't even remember why I ended up watching it, but it really took me by surprise and vastly exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations. Definitely worth a watch if you can find it.
It was a bad movie. The concept was good, but it was so bad. The actors are likeable, but the acting isn’t there best. The whole movie was pretty oke. But the ending was so weird and not necessary. It’s an ending that isn’t a twist but also isn’t suspected, just bad. Don’t wast your time on this.
Interesting concept. Terrible acting. Huge plot holes. In a way interesting. Best part is (aside the pretty girls) that it's only 90 minutes.
Pretty good concept, and surprisingly well exploited. A professor is looking for people that disappeared in some cave. He disappears too and some student go look for him. And well, the characters take a very long time to discover it, but the title and summary gives it away immediately, so not really a spoiler: time pass differently in the cave.
It seems pretty cheap, so I was not expecting much consistency on the concept, but not only does it go beyond what you'd expect,it also plays with the fact that viewers already know what the characters don't to go far beyond what you would assume, while mostly staying coherent. FX are actually pretty ok too for what you'd expect.
Around that it's still a bit cheap, and very slow in the beginning. Can't say the characters are really interesting, they are mostly annoyingly dumb.
As the viewer you already knows the cave is a time trap, the idea is to try to know how fast time is going. So when you see the light outside turning on and off in a few seconds, you immediately know those are days passing, but the characters take an extremely long time to figure it out. But then it turns out that it's not the sun rising and setting that makes the light difference, but the time of the year when the sun is above the entrance to the cave or not. So each iteration is not a day, but a full year. Well played.
I actually wasn't paying attention in the beginning, but you can see it pretty early, when Hopper gets out after a few seconds, it's clearly been years already as the vegetation took over the cars, including Taylor's. One thing one might wonder though is whether no one was looking for them. 6 people going missing, including two kids, and the cars are still there. So this is really a place where nobody ever go ? For decades as the hippy van is there too ?
Anyway, the really follows through on this. First we even meet cavemen. With this time dilatation they would have entered the cave less than 24h ago. Then the first time one of them manages to get out Earth itself is barely recognizable, and the next time someone enters, he's from a very distant future.
It's really well more plotted out than I imagined, though it's not without incoherence either.
The cave would have to have a whole lot of entrances. If the other had taken the same as Hopper, they would have found him there. There is also Furby's. But not only. His parents would have been less than 2 minutes ahead, so they must have taken yet another entrance. And all these entrances must be far enough and have different path (and of different lengths) so they don't all meet up in the middle.
There's a second layer. Fun! But impossible. It looks like the time dilatation is of a similar amplitude than between the exterior and the first layer. The second layer looks like a frozen battle. So even if it was all very fast, they have been in the second layer for minutes. But even seconds in the second layer would be years in the first layer and so millions of years in the exterior. Even conquistadores could have only been in the cave for 30 minutes or so. So not only should they not have been fighting in the second layer, they actually probably wouldn't have reached it by the time our main characters entered.
For the same reason, not sure how could the rumours of the fountain of youth can exist, as nobody could have ever gone out of that cave.
As for the ending, it's bold, but whatever the speed of these tentacles they would have taken decades outside to be able to get them (unless their speed instantly killed them with the acceleration and they were resurrected by the water ?). And it would definitely be impossible to get people from the second layer.
Anyway, the movie itself wasn't that great, but the concept and the possibilities it opens were fun to think about.
Better than I expected. The scenarios have big gap, but overall it is better than most competitors
A well executed story despite the budget limitations. If this was produced by a major studio, it would have made waves. It has its issues, at times performances are lacking and the vibe of it simply feels like a student movie, but the story makes up for it. It's relatively simple, the title pretty much gives it away, but it is fun to watch the characters realize what is going on as the story unfolds.
Primer is a perfect example of a low budget movie being amazing when a great story unfolds in front of you. Time Trap, while nowhere near as complex as Primer, accomplishes the same but in a slightly different way. Let me put it this way, if Primer is an Academy Award type story of low budget movies, Time Trap is the summer blockbuster of low budget movies.
Give it a go, you won't regret it.
Interesting concept, not so much about the execution. In my opinion this movie started well, but everything escalated so quickly with all that alien stuff. A pretty mediocre movie.
Like most people apparently, I was pleasently surprised. Some plot holes but surprisingly good acting and effects. Not bad for such a small budget.
Great plot, bad acting, rushed ending
When there is a visible fire on screen, and the characters say "Look, there is a fire", you know you're in for something special.
Most of the characters in the movie are infuriatingly stupid, it's the first time for me to wish for all of the characters in a movie to die. Some of them are more infuriating than Dolores Umbridge and she's just the worst. Even the aliens are stupid, they could've just f*g noodled all of those f**s out of the cave, imagine the research potential!
An interesting take on immortality.
Could have been better.
It starts one way, but ends a totally different way! At least they made it interesting, even if they didn't explain it.
So much in the name of sci-fi mystery. Great that Netflix has Speed(1.5x)
Poor acting. I slept on it.
I was expecting a really awful scifi movie, and i was positively impressed, the premise was extremely promising and it did not disapoint. Although i wished this was more like a series than a rushed movie, but ill take it
A welcome surprise. Something new gets added to Netflix and it is a movie about time-travel, I'm on board. I didn't expect too much from a movie that didn't have any top billed actors backing it up and with the duration of only an hour and a half but man I was in for a great ride. It ticked most boxes for my favorite genres and characters aren't too interesting, the plot certainly was for me. the ending might have been a little too 'happy', you know as far as you can call it a happy ending but with all the main cast members alive and well it felt like it.
This is great. Give this writer/director a budget and he might have an Aliens or a Terminator in him. Very satisfying watch for something with this low profile and budget.
I think overall the film was a bit cheesy, but I enjoyed the concept. I’d like to see a higher budget version.
I wanted to give it a 6 for the acting and cheesiness, but the storyline was an interesting idea and worth a higher rating and worth recommending.
I was expecting a bad sci-fi movie, but surprisingly, it grew on me. If you can look past the acting and the plot, it's been a while since I've seen a decent sci-fi flick. Don't get me wrong, it's not great, nor excellent, just good enough. And lately, that's say a lot.
Surprisingly good for such a low budget affair. Just goes to show that all you need is a good story to tell, regardless of visual flair or acting chops. Definitely recommended.
Very ambitious indie sci fi. I'm a sucker for time travel movies, but this bit off more than it could chew. There was a lack of 'show don't tell' directing - and the viewer is hand held most of the way through. It suffers from poor dialogue and even poorer acting. I feel for the director given the possible budget constraints faced. But even though the concept was very interesting, they just didn't pull it off.
would have to agree with others here. at the very start you could sense low budget and the acting was a little sub-par BUT what a surprise it turned out to be!
Surprisingly good story and a happy ending to boot
Well done to the writers, director and producers on what's possible (are you listening Netflix?)
Not what I was expecting for a low budget movie, but it was actually good.
Well made B movie. Surprisingly intertwining (if you don't question all the things happening on screen).
What a movie! This was fucking awesome!!!
Shout by OrangeScubaBlockedParent2018-08-24T08:40:02Z
Surprisingly good. This was by far the best Low Budget movie I have seen in a long time. It actually had a good ending which most movie lack now a days.