Film Review – The Beta Test

This time last year, writer/director Jim Cummings delivered “The Wolf of Snow Hollow,” with the idiosyncratic filmmaker striving to put his stamp on a genre picture, remaining in touch with the violent extremes of a horror movie while still overseeing a screenplay populated with unusual characters and odd situations. Cummings returns with “The Beta Test,” sharing helming and writing duties with co-star P.J. McCabe, this time trading the possibility of fictional creatures with the harsh reality of Hollywood predators, who are just as vicious and relentless. The material is a hodgepodge of ideas and targets, blending sexual obsession with relationship anxiety, and there’s plenty of material about the brutality of the agent system, which is soon joined by an assessment of digital footprints and their power to ruin lives. “The Beta Test” tries to be everything, keeping Cummings out in front with a twitchy lead performance. It ultimately takes on too much, but the production nails some aspects of employment and cohabitation, offering unsettling realism when it comes to the way people treat one another. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com