Steineded How sad is this?

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

MBunge See, it's like "calamity" but with a "K", get it? Deliberate misspellings are so totally cool, dude! It's like a time machine back to 1996! Yes, the name doesn't tell us anything about the story and isn't inherently interesting…but it's "calamity" with a "K"! It's a good thing indy movies like this don't have to worry about stupid studio execs sticking them with absurd titles picked blindly out of a bag of marketing buzzwords. I mean, "calamity" with a "K"? It's genius!Putting that inspired choice aside, this is a flabby film that feels much longer than its 98 minute run time. It gets its own essential mystery wrong, bollixes the psychology of its antagonist and has a protagonist so passive he's practically in a coma. The story rests entirely on a difference between two characters that is never examined or explained and writer/director James M. Hausler wastes an enormous amount of time on a narrative device that does nothing and goes nowhere. The basic premise of Kalamity is sound and Jonathan Jackson does a nice job playing the facets of a character who's never integrated into a believable person. It's also nice to see Patricia Kalember get work. Sisters was a criminally underrated show. The bottom line on this production, though, is that it's the proverbial sound and fury, signifying nothing.Billy (Nick Stahl) is a mid-20something guy who's returned home to Virginia after breaking up with his college student girlfriend (Beau Garrett) in Ohio. And let me just stop right here. Nick Stahl is a talented performer but he can't play mid 20s anymore. He's got a lived-in actor's face that doesn't look like it's been injected, pulled back or retouched. It's a great face, but not for somebody in their mid 20s. When the film slaps a ball cap on him in a flashback to pass him off as even younger, it's pathetic. He's not acting too old for the part and maybe some make up and getting in a bit better shape would have helped, but Stahl's apparent age really screwed up the whole sensibility of Billy and put the film in a hole from the very beginning.Anyway, Billy returns home to find his best friend Stan (Jonathan Jackson) has become a raging douche who gets violently angry at the mention of his ex-girlfriend's name. Then Billy learns that Stan's ex has gone missing and, well, he sorta waits around for someone else to do something, although he instantly suspects that Stan's involved in the disappearance. Oh, and Billy also goes through the whole movie seeing and talking to his ex-girlfriend as a daydream/hallucination.Here's the crux of the problem with Kalamity. It's about two guys experiencing the same heartbreak where one merely mopes around and the other turns to murder, but why Billy reacts one way and Stan another is never touched on. There's no reason even vaguely referenced at any point in the film. Without that emotional context, the only thing this movie can be about is the mystery of what Stan did and why he did it. However, any reasonably intelligent viewer figures both those things out immediately and Billy understands it the moment he first hears about Stan's missing ex. The only mystery here is why the hell Billy never calls the cops. Well, that and what the hell writer/director Hausler thought he was doing with Billy's girlfriend delusions.Kalamity is a hook and a theme that never develop into a story. It's unclear what these events are supposed to mean for Billy and his life. It's unclear what the audience is supposed to make of Stan's descent into evil. The only suspense is in wondering if this thing is going to wander into the general vicinity of a point. It doesn't. Billy's fantasies should have been dispensed with and replaced by a plot that gave him some purpose and Stan some rationale. This is a classic example of a filmmaker coming up with some good scenes but not realizing they don't add up to a film. A bunch of supporting characters should have been removed or greatly de-emphasized because they don't contribute anything to the conflict between Billy and Stan.Kalamity isn't a katastrophe. It's just a bad movie.

TheresaMSullivan Written and directed by James Hausler, Kalamity claims its spot as an intriguing psychological thriller. Ripped to the bone by heartbreaking loss, Kalamity grasps Billy and Stan as its true victims. This film takes a different perspective since, for once, we hear from the men, witness their emotional bleed, and follow the horror of the 'subconscious rip'. The movie starts out with a haunting, compelling, and strikingly wise voice-over, which pulls the audience into the film.Grounded by Hollywood professionals Robert Forster and Nick Stahl who portrays the story's hero, Billy, Hausler's brilliant choice of Jonathan Jackson as the aggressive, uber-disturbed best friend, Stan, carries the suspenseful tone. Although Billy has problems of his own, he recognizes almost immediately that his good friend has some profound mental imbalance. The dialogue is real; it reflects the way real people feel and talk. Billy's reflection on his own lost love, Alice, speaks to that part in all of us who yearn for that lost love of our own – reliving snippets of moments in our own memories as Billy randomly does with Alice throughout the film. I saw this in the theater, and watched on demand repeatedly, each time unpeeling another layer of Hausler's tightly scripted, haunting film.

Tom Patrick Kalamity, directed by James Hausler, is a psychological thriller for everyone - male or female. This is a movie for people who enjoy getting into the mind of a killer. Starring Nick Stahl, Jonathan Jackson, Christopher Clark as the leads, Kalamity tells the story of college friends - in their post college years - when life becomes real. Back from a bad breakup, Billy (Stahl) is wounded and confused. Figuring he can count on a buddy to help him through the mess, he turns to Stan (Jackson), but he quickly realizes that Jackson is a bigger mess than he is and for far more serious reasons. The plot builds steadily as Billy (Stahl) and Christian (Clark) work through the maze of madness they find themselves in. This is a good movie, well-written with a key performance by Stahl. Get your popcorn before it starts; you do not want to have to leave the theater.

L Devereaux Kalamity is a believable psychological thriller directed by James Hausler. Hausler anchors his cast with Nick Stahl in a lead role as well as veteran actors Robert Forster and Patricia Kalember. Stahl returns to his hometown after a broken romance in pretty bad emotional shape. Hoping to turn to his best friend, Stan, Billy (Stahl) soon learns that something is very wrong with Stan. As the plot unfolds, Hausler builds suspense keeping the audience completely engaged as the mystery unfolds.Jonathan Jackson, a relative newcomer in comparison to Stahl, believably portrays a disturbed young man, whose life changes in an instant.Christopher Clark has some difficulty in his off-beat role but does not detract from the overall quality.