If you like the stumbling, uncoordinated character of Napoleon Dynamite and the sociopathic tendencies of the lead character in May, then Spiral might be the film for you.

The film begins with the main character, Mason, staring at a beautiful waitress working in a diner. He's standing in the rain and audibly clacking his teeth unconsciously. The teeth clacking, however is not from the cold. It's obvious from the opening shot of the film that this kid is not right. He's scrawny, all nose, no jaw, and sharp chinned, a reclusive painter with a troubled past and a crappy corporate day job.

"I think I did somethin..." Later that night Mason calls his only chum, old high school friend and now boss, Berkeley, who talks Mason down from his freak-out and tells him to go back to bed. Berkeley seems believably caught up in his own life so as to not take notice of the wackiness marinating inside his little friend. As it plays out, Berkeley is just too busy bird-dogging the chicks to really pay much attention to anyone but himself. There is also something amiss with Mason, but it's a socially acceptable problem that we've all witnessed (and oftentimes have trouble believing), he's just an asshole and he knows it. In fact, Berkeley embraces it. So Berkeley tells Mason to chill, move on, and go to sleep.

From that very first scene Mason's stance and actions are so withdrawn and negative that he comes off as having been sprayed by a dying, rabid skunk. I can't imagine a woman being attracted to such negativity, though I know it happens, and of course it happens here.

Enter Amber, a giddy ditz who is in dire need of a gaggle of friends, or maybe a therapist, or maybe some good medication, or all three. We never learn much about Amber. She's a blank slate of a puppy dog that decides to follow Mason around. Her actions at times are confounding (as there is no backstory given) and are driven by plot rather than character. If only there were a scene indicating she misplaced her pills, or that her mommy didn't hug her enough, or she had a traumatic brain injury at some point in her past, then her actions might be more understandable.

But all is good. After all, what would a slasher film be without the perky, nubile, co-eds tiptoeing into all those dark houses and bedrooms? We would have a lot of lonely movie monsters sitting around with not much else to do but sharpen their rusty tools of dismemberment.

This is the set-up and drive of Spiral. Is no one paying attention that little bird Amber has hopped into the den of this psycho meat-grinder? Can she tame him? Is he really the psycho meat-grinder we are led to believe? After all, we the viewers never really saw him do anything, did we?

Will Barratt's deft and driving camerawork keeps the viewer inside the head of Mason and keeps you afraid of what he's almost about to do. Otherwise, this is a difficult film to find access into. Even in the film May, the characters were somehow more available to the audience. Probably because the main character, May, was so appealing whereas Mason is someone you would not want to share a restaurant with.

Joel Moore, playing Mason, reminds me a bit of Adrien Brody in A Thin Red Line: both characters are beat psychologically and hunkered down from the world. Much like Brody, Mason looks like he has the opportunity to become an onscreen presence in later films.

Amber Tamblyn, as the puppy dog/innocent bird, does a good job of being goofy at the right moments and then turning seductive and sexual with the drop of a robe and a quick glance over her shoulder. She takes her character and runs with everything given to her.

Zachary Levi's Berkeley has a really good scene at a Christmas dinner that made me laugh and another near the end of the film indicating a range that wasn't even hinted at through the duration of the film. His reveal at the end is touching, telling, and works to confirm the intelligence that drives the narrative lurking beneath the film and the main character, and I was surprised at how well that played out.

Then there is the final, final, reveal that again brings up the question, what was Amber thinking? If there were just one scene showing Amber wasn't completely right in the head in some manner or another, or had some skeleton in her own closet that would indicate that she were broken in some invisible manner, the film would have been laced up very nicely. Her gravitating to such an odd character as Mason would have been easily understood this way. As it stands, the character has to be excused for her actions.

Spiral works on almost every level and shows the talents of filmmakers who know their craft and are happy to pull us along on a cringe-worthy psychodrama disguised as a slasher film.

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