After witnessing his wife being abducted by aliens and becoming paralyzed, a man finds solace in hosting an alien conspiracy podcast. Soon, things start to change, and he may just find his truth.
Written and directed by David M. Parks, Static Codes is a competently made film, just not one that hit the right marks for this reviewer. There is something here though, it’s simply something for someone else. There is an audience out there that will love this story, but as the basis here didn’t quite work for for this viewer, it’s difficult to look past it. In terms of the film being well written and well directed, it is. It’s decently done and the lines of dialog work within the story, so do the characters and developments. It’s just not the right story with the right person in this case, so watching the film, the attention had to be put on other things like the performances, cinematography, and editing.
In terms of performances, both Shane Woodson and Mike Ferguson do well as the lead who is paralyzed from the waist down and his friend who may be hiding something. Seeing Sadie Katz on video call was interesting and she did well there. Unfortunately, Taryn Manning was not on point here, not sure what was happening there, but her performance looks like she is out of it and it distracts from the rest of the performances in her scenes. Overall, the acting here is fine and decent, giving some fun bits here and there.
The cinematography (which doesn’t get an IMDB credit) is good, showing the situations, the action, and setting tone and mood throughout the film. The editing by Justin Kuhn and George Lambriodes is good, it keeps scenes feeling right and the pace moving well. The music by Frederick Shands is solid, adding some good throughout the film and giving something to cling to here and there when the film falters a bit.
Generally speaking, Static Codes is a well-made independent film that needs to find its audience as it will not be for everyone. If someone isn’t interested in alien abductions and alien conspiracies, this may lose their interest really early on. Thankfully, the film is well shot, decently edited, and has some good performances and music to help the viewer stick around even if the story is not their cup of tea.