2024 Things Will Be Different

• Directed by: Michael Felker
• Written by: Michael Felker
• Stars: Adam David Thompson, Riley Dandy, Chloe Skoczen
• Run Time: 1 Hour, 42 Minutes
• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4IkQCed2L0

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

A pair of siblings go into hiding after a robbery, in a farmhouse that has a time travel feature, which they know about going into. Things get complicated as what they expect to be a short wait turns into a quagmire of overlaps and loops. It’s well made, but too stretched out, and we both thought it would have benefitted from being compacted down. It’s a mystery that unfolds, but neither of us were very satisfied or comprehending of the ending.

Spoilery Synopsis

As the credits roll, we hear a phone call between two people planning a hideaway out of town after some kind of robbery; they’re brother and sister, and there are big bags of money involved.

We cut to Joseph and Sidney meeting in a diner. When they hear a siren passing by, they clear out quickly. They go to the woods, where Joseph knows of a house they can hide in.

They arrive at the house and run off some locals who are there target shooting. The house is trashed inside. They go inside and hear the police approaching. They both know a strange combination trick with the grandfather clocks in the house that unlock a special door. They’ve got a book with instructions along with a phone and some magic-sounding words.

When they come out of the closet, it’s winter outside, and the house is all clean and restored. “Now we wait for time to pass in our present, and when we head back, we’ll be clear. Two weeks and counting.”

The two talk about their lives and about the bar patron who told Joseph about the magical, time-traveling clocks in this house. It’s noticed that there are no cars, no planes, no signs of other people. When it’s time to go back where they came from, they find “Go to the mill” scratched on a wooden sign.

Inside the mill, they find a badly burned corpse. They find another cryptic message that demands their compliance. Sid freaks and runs outside to vomit blood when she crosses the perimeter. The body in the barn was the woman who gave Joseph the book with instructions.

They come into a possession of a tape recorder that allows them to have a conversation with… whoever’s behind all this. The man on the tape wants to “wipe” them, painlessly and instantaneously. The man says there’s someone coming to use the time doorway that they can’t see, and he wants Joe and Sid to kill that person. He sends them pistols.

They set up outside to watch the perimeter, and nothing happens for a long time. On day 352, Sid has researched that the place has been deserted since around 1955. The “Vice Grip” has since used the place as a sort of time-travelling safehouse. She’s had many theories about all this since they’ve been trapped here.

Finally, someone walks across the field toward the house. They get down, loaded with a sniper rifle and aim at Sid. Joe yells, and they both run inside. Joe and the intruder shoot at each other. Sid gets shot in the shoulder as the intruder plays disco music.

As Sid talks to the tape recorder, Joe is elsewhere being tied up and tormented. He tells the tape recorder that the intruder is dead– as the intruder controls the recorder for him.

The intruder makes a run for the house and gets into a fight with Sid. The intruder is finally unmasked, and it’s Steph (her own daughter, grown up). Joe runs in and shoots Sid by mistake as the intruder runs upstairs to the time closet.

Joe goes upstairs to find the time closet has been destroyed. Later, he buries Sid outside. He then meets “The Vice Grips” who want to know about the visitor. Since he failed, they are going to wipe him. They explain that Joe is just a small part in a much bigger project. Joe asks to go back and try again, he can fix the mistakes and get the results they need. “Things will be different.”

The Vice opens a door, and Joe sees that it’s the morning they arrived at the house. And there’s a plane flying overhead. He freely crosses the perimeter. He finds his old self, kills him, and takes his place. He grabs the money and heads off to the diner to meet Sid.

The Vice discusses whether or not he’ll be the first to break the cycle.

Sid arrives at the diner, but it’s not like before. He tells her about how many times he’s tried to fix things (how does she know?). He points her rifle at his head and tells her to end it. We see how old Joe has gotten, his beard is gray.

Brian’s Commentary

The basic plot is interesting with the odd time travel portrayal, but there’s so much waiting and angst that I nodded off at a couple of points. There’s only a cast of two, and they do a fine job; the setting also works well. Still, this feels like a fifteen minute short film with a ton of padding.

It’s very strange, and it’s NOT all clear at the end.

Kevin’s Commentary

It was an interesting take, I thought, having them know about the time traveling aspect of the property before they went to it. It was interesting how the time travel seemed to be a mix of retro tech and magic incantations.

It’s a beautiful location, perfect setting, and good cast. But it’s way too stretched out, with long periods of not much happening. It could have been improved by cutting the length down.

It’s a mystery that only sort of came together at the end. And there were things unexplained. Watching it again would probably make things clearer, but should I really have to do that? I wouldn’t say I disliked it, but I wasn’t very pleased either.