TILL DEATH DO US PART // A FILM REVIEW OF "6:45"
The art of the "repeating day" film has been refined and mastered over the years. The king of those films is the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day, which comes up almost every single time another "repeating time loop" film is made. The 2014 action film Edge of Tomorrow/Live, Die, Repeat was known as "the action Groundhog Day." 2017's Happy Death Day and 2019's Happy Death Day 2U were called "the horror Groundhog Day." Most recently, Hulu's film Palm Springs had comparisons to the Bill Murray classic as well. Now we come to 6:45, an ambitious and searing time loop thriller. It has the same kind of concept as all of the previous films (i.e. a constant repeating day) but unlike those other films, this one plays it very dark and serious.
The film focuses in on Bobby (Michael Reed) and Jules (Augie Duke). Bobby is trying to sweep Jules away on a romantic trip to Bog Grove, a resort island where Bobby is hoping to propose to his girlfriend. However, just as he does, a horrifying masked figure shows up out of nowhere and slices Jules throat, followed by breaking Bobby's neck. Suddenly, it's 6:45am again, the beginning of their day. They are both right back in the same bed but Bobby is the only one who remembers that the day already happened and ended horrifically. The worst thing is that it keeps happening to Bobby over and over. He's forced to watch this strange figure cut his girlfriend's throat and then kill him over and over and over. It's bleak and horrible and for a while we're not given many clues to figure out what could be going on and how Bobby can stop it. Or if he can.
The other major dilemma in 6:45, and equally one of the most interesting and frustrating things about the film, is that they are not a happy couple, and Bobby isn't a great guy. He's controlling and has anger issues. Overall, he's kind of a jerk, yet we're stuck with the jerk as our protagonist. Michael Reed is very good in the role and it makes it a very interesting viewing of this unsettling horror film watching a very unreliable main character try to piece the day together and figure a way out. The specifics of what is going on is so slowly reeled out that it might frustrate viewers. Yet it's because of this tactic that the final act twist comes as such a satisfying surprise. 6:45 is a rare film who's ending actually changes the entire way you've been viewing the film, from the dialogue to the settings to the twisted plot itself. Rewatch it later and it'll play like a different film. Now how many horror films can truly say that?
GRADE: B+
WRITTEN BY Robert Dean Klein DIRECTED BY Craig Singer STARRING Michael Reed, Augie Duke, Allie Marshall, Armen Garo, Remy Ma, Thomas G. Waites, Sasha K. Gordon, The 45 King, Joshua Matthew Smith. NOW SHOWING IN SELECT THEATRES. FOR MORE INFO: 6:45