When I heard about The Deaths of Ian Stone starring super hottie Matt Vogel (Wuthering Heights, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Grind, Poseidon), a young man who would be killed and be reborn again in another life to die yet again, I was thrilled. I thought it was an exciting premise, also a window to shirtless Matt (which we get some of) and cool deaths. We only get the former. Instead of a horror flick melded with The Butterfly Effect, we get a bit of a superhero movie. Ian Stone starts out as a college hockey player with a girlfriend named Jenny (Christiana Cole). He is soon killed by a mysterious force and starts out like again as a working stiff in an office building. He then returns home to his girlfriend Medea (Jaime Murray) who hides a secret agenda. As soon as clocks stop, ian will know his death is near. He is also helped out by the strange Gray (Michael Feast). For a more elaborate plot synopsis, check it below. It is a bit artsy and complex but I like it, it does get a bit depressing and trying, but overall a whole piece. In each life Ian lives, the one constant is Jenny. And the reason Ian is constantly being killed is because he keeps remembering something the killers don't want him to remember. And for some reason, there is a lot of British people in this movie, it turns out Ian is an American in England but it is never mentioned.
SPOILERSThe elaborated plot synopsis:
In the second life we see, Ian tells his girlfriend Medea that he once on a hockey team. He shows her his yearbook but he's not in it. It of course bugs him, especially after witnessing a man die and see a man not really help him. He is warned by Grey, that ghost/demons are after him, because they don't want him to remember. Ian has had more lives but didn't remember, these forces have the power to bring him back again and again. Ian of course doesn't believe him until Grey is taking away by evil forces. He returns home to Medea, who kills him and apologizes. He then starts his new life as a taxi cab driver and Jenny is yet again in this life. The train of him being killed and resurrected continues, until he finally notices it and remembers it and tries to protect Jenny.
These enemy forces leave Ian in a heroin stupor in his new life and a bit harder to even stand up. He finally gets up and takes Jenny running as the forces attack. While in a subway train, Grey informs Ian with the heavy duty. Ian, Gray, Medea and the others stalking him are "Harvesters" who live off people's fears. If they kill people, they are given more power. It happens Ian killed one of his own and the Harvesters didn't take it so well so they cursed him with no memory and every time he would notice, they would reboot him by 'killing' him. Gray tells Ian to protect Jenny and Medea then attacks them and forces Ian to feed off Jenny. Just then, Ian jumps in front of a bus. In his new life, he is being tortured by the Harvesters, especially Medea who has a semi-sexual vendetta against him.
As in every heroic battle, the mentor has to die. Gray has Ian take his energy to become stronger and after that, he goes all superhero and kills Harvesters. but he looks more like Halloween's Michael Myers if he didn't cut his hair for years (pretty bad, look above). he kills enough Harvesters to get to Medea and save Jenny. He kills both Jenny and Medea and reboots his life to his perfect life, back to a college hockey player. He kisses his love and then spots a Harvester to do his duty. The acting is superb, great spirited performances. As for the DVD, there is not much to it since it is part of the After Dark Horrorfest 8 Films to Die For, so it has more stuff about the horror fest. So no director commentary and no deleted scenes. It would have been interesting to hear from the director or writer.
