6:45
In this trippy horror takeoff on "Groundhog Day," a man must discover why the idyllic island vacation he and his girlfriend are on keeps ending with their gruesome murder.
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When "Palm Springs" came along last year to do a serio-comedy using the same time loop idea as "Groundhog Day," I thought just enough time had passed -- 27 years -- for audiences to be ready for another crack at the material without it seeming like a total copycat.
A few months later came "6:45," this time with a trippy horror/thriller tilt. The big difference is that involves a couple on an idyllic vacation who keep experiencing the same day that always ends in their gruesome murder.
The divergence with "Palm Springs" is that only one of them is aware of the time trap they're in.
Director Craig Singer and screenwriter Robert Dean Klein are horror veterans, and keep things moving along at a reasonable clip as Bobby (Michael Reed) and his girlfriend Jules (Augie Duke) wake up at the same titular time every day on the island of Bog Grove, a New England-y getaway that currently seems almost deserted.
It's a beautiful place (shot in Ocean County, New Jersey) filled with lined rows of brightly painted seaside houses, many of them turned into bed & breakfasts or curios shops. Bobby spent time here as a kid, though he claims to barely remember it, and has brought Jules here with the idea of proposing marriage. They've been through a rough patch lately, and Jules has a mysterious letter in a brown envelope for Bobby that she wrote when they were fighting. We know it will become important later.
They end up at a B&B run by an older fellow named Gene, one of those guys who is outwardly friendly and gregarious but just frightens the crap out of you. He intersperses his speech with niceties and vaguely threatening tones. He's a glad-hander and keyhole-listener, played by Armen Garo, who with his bulldog visage and darkened, deep-set eyes, has a great face for movies -- I could watch it all day.
Gene drops the information that ferry service is discontinued on this particular weekend, so Bobby and Jules can't leave. This turns out to be literal, as every morning they wake up to the alarm clock bleeping the time of 6:45 a.m. (Thankfully, no "I Got You Babe.") On the second day Bobby seems barely aware of it, like he's experiencing wicked deja vu, but by the third he's onto the fact that something is seriously wrong. Jules is blissfully unaware.
Of course, the thing that sticks mostly clearly in Bobby's memory is that every day, they are murdered by a mysterious figure in hoodie and creepy mask, which makes the killer look as if he is startled. He seems to appear out of nowhere wherever they go, slashing Jules' throat wide open with a razor, unleashing a positive deluge of crimson blood, and then proceeds to snap Bobby's neck as he looks on in horror, as if in a trance.
Bobby undertakes various schemes to foil the plot, taking them to different places on Bog Grove -- a bar, a shop, a coffee/book place, historical museum, etc. Nothing works, the guy in the hoodie and mask always shows up, doing them in. He even tries having them not leave their hotel room all day and night, making it almost to midnight before...
During each of these repeated days, we learn a little more about Bobby and Jules. Like the fact that he used to be quite the love-them-and-leave-them Lothario, and is now trying to change his ways. Evidence surfaces to suggest that he's not been as successful at this as Jules believes.
There are even hints that Bobby has had troubles with alcohol and bar fights. His wanderings certainly seem to keep leading him back to the local watering hole, where they encounter some of the local crew, such as Larry the affable bartender (Thomas G. Waites) and Brooklyn (Sasha K. Gordon), a tattooed drunk who makes passes at Jules.
They also keep spotting their killer there, and Bobby tries chasing him, but things always end with their deaths. Until, that is.
Reed brings a nervous energy to the role, playing a guy who we like less and less as the story goes on. Duke starts off as just a standard clueless victim, but gradually takes on shades and depths.
"6:45" is at its best when it focuses on Bobby trying to solve the vexing puzzle of how to get out of the time loop. It's less concerned with how they got stuck there in the first place, though things grow increasing fuzzy as time goes on. We start to question if the couple is really experiencing some sort of science fiction time vortex or if things are playing out entirely in someone's addled brain.
The scary parts of the film are legit just that. The killer figure is a real nerve-tingler, and we both dread and can't wait until he shows up again. The movie gets bogged down too much in the mind-trippy stuff, and during the last 30 minutes or so I knew exactly where it was going to go and just had to wait for it to arrive.
It's almost as if... I've seen this picture before.