I was quite excited for this one, the trailer looked promising, a friend got me interested in seeing C. M. Punk and even the poster's pretty nice. While I certainly dig the movies aesthethic and some other elements, "Girl on the Third Floor" has its share of flaws.
Don Koch (C. M. Punk), an ex conman with past alcohol related issues, starts single handedly renovating an old house he bought while waiting for his pregnant wife come to the new home from the city, there's also a friend who comes to help him, a neighbourly pastor who seems to knows something & a seductive young girl. Story's fairly simple and not exactly original, although things take a turn just before the 3rd act & I'm not quite sure what to think of it still. There's some mystery in it allright. One guy said the 3rd act just doesn't work - I'll admit it was risky, but I didn't mind it that much. Acting's fine for the most part, but I 'm not sure if C. M. Punk has the guts for serious acting, he was kinda (pleasantly) funny in this, but during the first 5-10 minutes I was questioning his skills. An undeniable strong suit of this movie is its production design and cinematography, soundtrack's positively amusing as well. Heavy use of practical effects, effective camera work and a crisp look that showed off the house just the right way.
It's hard to find "Girl on the Third Floor" either scary or very funny, but it was a certainly (for the lack of a better word) amusing and aesthetically pleasant expierence for a horror buff such as myself. Keeping in mind that this is a directional debute, I'm interested in seeing what comes next from Travis Stevens. As far as modern indies go, this one's slightly above average. My rating: 6/10.
