Paranoia

Starring Brad Jones, Sarah Lewis, Brian Lewis, and Brian Irving

Release Date: June 7, 2011

Directed by Ryan Mitchelle

First of all, I love the tagline: Do you know the night? It works so well with the tone and atmosphere of Paranoia, the latest thriller written by Brad “Cinema Snob” Jones.

Mark Bishop (Jones) is having a hard night: his wife is leaving him, he’s got a massive headache, and there’s a dead intruder in his walkway. Soon enough, Mark is wandering across town trying to shake his growing paranoia and the strange feeling that not everything is alright. Is Mark just imagining things? Soon, Mark questions his very sanity and may soon enough become another victim of the night.

The mood of this film is amazingly tense, growing more and more suspenseful until the third act finale. What works really well is how the film starts off slow and accustoms the audience to Mark and his predicament.  Director Mitchelle makes the atmosphere for “Paranoia” work well due to his past work with Jones and his style of nourish thrillers and suspense films, such as “Midnight Heat” or “The Hooker with a Heart of Gold”.

Speaking of, Jones and his cast of actors give great performances. Jones makes everyman Mark into an amazing character, one who can be sympathetic one minute and aggressively hostile the next. Mark may be one of Jones’ best characters, someone whose sense of reality flip flops back and forth during this turbulent night. During one scene, Jones gives a great monologue about how he tries to be a writer and how ironic it is how his nightly events would make a great story. In secondary parts is Jones’ wife Jillian as Claire the Waitress or Brian Lewis as Randy, but Brian Irving gives a chilling performance as Carl, the intruder who initiates Mark’s night of insanity.

If you enjoy After Hours , Taxi Driver or Memento, you’ll certainly enjoy Paranoia.

Click here to buy Paranoia

Rating: * * * * * of 5