A Moment of Darkness

andrew_shearer writes, "A MOMENT OF DARKNESS
Written and Directed by Tiffany Warren
Featuring Gina Garcia, Cindy Osbourne
2004
OAMM ProductionsReview by Andrew Shearer

Andrew Shearer is a b-movie filmmaker and reviewer, and runs a website caled Gonzoriffic

I'd like to start off by saying I'm a reeeallly tough sell when it comes to vampire movies, because they're my least favorite plot device in horror films. I'd take a zombie movie over a vampire movie anyday, and even that is saying a lot because zombies are just about as over-used as vampires. And I enjoy vamp flicks even less when they're portrayed as romantic, sympathetic, gothic characters instead of bloodsucking evil monsters. So why exactly does the world need another shot-on-video independent film about vampires, and why should you care about Tiffany Warren's A MOMENT OF DARKNESS?

MOMENT centers around Janeane (Cindy Osbourne), a young nurse who escapes the boredom of her lonely life by role-playing in online Vampire chat rooms. Then one day, her world is completely flipped upside down when she's bitten by a crazed, fanged patient (Gina Garcia) in the emergency room. Soon after, Janeane finds herself tormented by spectral visits from the woman who bit her, and gives in to her growing hunger for blood, finding easy prey amongst late-night club-hoppers. She struggles with this newfound curse, and must find it within herself to either fight it or accept it, torn between her humanity and the strong pull of the dark side.

One of the reasons I ended up liking A MOMENT OF DARKNESS so much is because I could see a lot going on within the story, there was more to it than just a couple chicks with fangs getting naked and biting each other (which has been done MANY MANY MANY times before in other films). Janeane's curiosity about the vampire lifestyle, and ultimately rude awakening to it, seemed to be a metaphor about our own self-destructive nature. We fear the unknown, yet we also desire it in the deepest corners of our mind. We tell ourselves that pursuing our curiosities could only lead to hurt, Janeane's suffering is a literal interpretation of that, and these thoughts are what keep us from going completely off the deep end.

This film is the very first release from Tiffany Warren and OAMM Productions, and stands as probably the best "first movie" I have ever seen on the microbudget level. The writing is deep, the acting is inspired, and it's competently shot and edited. Cindy Osbourne's performance as Janeane is definitely skilled, she'll be one to watch in the future most definitely. However, the movie really comes alive when Gina Garcia (Warren acting under a pseudonym) is on screen. MOMENT maintains a moody, dreamlike tone throughout, a crescendo that leads to a nightmarish finale, but Garcia's scenes have a certain undeniable spark to them that indicates you're seeing a true presence on screen.

Given that female writer/director/actors are in short supply, Tiffany Warren not only displays great talent, but abundant promise for the years to come. She has proven that a movie can be sexy without being soft porn, and that it is possible to make a great-looking film on the cheap if you know what you're doing. If her first movie is this good...she's got nowhere to go but up, and that's good news for fans of indie film.