"11:11” (aka “Hell’s Gate”) is one of those films that so clearly draws its inspiration from Japanese horror that you might actually believe that you’re watching a remake. You’re not. And like most Japanese horror films, this is a smart and calculating piece that begs a lot of questions but offers few answers. A quick scan of the internet reveals a whole lot of folks trying to figure out exactly ‘what this scene meant’ or ‘what that scene meant’ or ‘who that character was’. That’s the beauty of this film, in that Michael Bafaro offers no quick fixes. This is an intelligent and thoughtful film that forces its viewers to think about it long after the eject button has been pushed on the ole DVD player. Personally, I love this film even though I too, found myself feeling my way in the dark upon reaching its bizarre ending. As one poster said, “The pieces are there, you just have to put them together.” That’s the kind of fun I look forward too when I sit down to re-watch this.

An afternoon at her parent’s secluded family cottage ends badly for little Sara Tobias when a pair of psychotic escaped convicts come ambling down her stretch of road. These are some rough dudes, who quickly dispatch both her parents with nary a thought. When they turn their search in the direction of Sara, hidden in a closet inside the house, that’s when things really go bad – for them. Sara has her dad’s gun, see, and she isn’t afraid to use it, blowing a baseball-sized hole in the chest one of the culprits. Aside from the gun, Sara also has another weapon in her arsenal, one that is roughly her age and, apparently, can also handle a gun. Her name is Raden, and she’s as cute as can be. She’s also quite deadly. Convict number two is opened up with a couple of well-placed shots from Raden’s gun, which remains off camera. From there, the film jumps ahead a number of years, introducing us to a now twenty-something Sara played by Laura Mennell. (Not sure if I liked this movie better when it was called "Mr. Jingles". Just kidding.)

Something of a mess of late, terrifying nightmares and visions have besieged Sara and even though she was prescribed medication to deal with her problems, she has elected not to take them, hoping to work through her issues all on her own. She’s not doing very well. Her behaviour has grown quite erratic of late and the few friends she had have now begun to abandon her. Even her own Aunt Lydia (Jane Sowerby) has kicked her out in favour of the campus jock, Jake (Chris Harrison), who curiously once tried to rape her neice at a frat party. Lust is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? Thankfully, Sara has her studies to take her mind off of things. Wait, nope, see Sara is enrolled in some kind of paranormal phenomenon course, and her studies mainly consist of the kind of things she’s supposed to be taking medication to get over. Huh? To make matters worse, Sara’s Aunt turns up drowned in her bathtub just mere hours after Sara wished death on her. Thanks to a number 11:11 etched into Lydia’s forehead, the police suspect that Lydia was murdered but have no real leads. Just when things can’t seem to get any worse, an old friend arrives on Sara’s doorstep -- a friend from her childhood, one who was there on that fateful day so many years ago. Raden (Christie Will), now Sara’s age, acts more like a big sister than a friend, and immediately takes it upon herself to get her back on medication. When Sara’s classmate Seth (Paul Dzenkiw), a painting-hobbyist, begins to show interest in her, Raden’s true colors begin to surface. She’s not the least bit impressed with Seth and has no problems making that known to Sara – the inklings of manipulation at work here. While all of this is going on, Sara’s various enemies start to turn up dead, usually under bizarre circumstances. With all the fingers pointing in her direction, folks begin to suspect that something evil is at work. Sara suspects Raden.

To the audience, it’s obvious that Sara is some sort of otherworldly beacon and that it’s all tied into the day her parents died, 11:11 – a date that upon further research seems to point towards the coming apocalypse. This begs a number of questions, namely who is Raden and why does she seem to appear at the most appropriate times? What role does choice play in life, and how much of our life is pre-planned by some higher entity and does fate dictate our choices? As it turns out, these are things that Sara must tackle as she ventures closer to the terrifying truth. As I said earlier, there are no easy answers, more like assumptions and guesses, not even in the final act, which further baffles the audience by throwing alternative narratives into the mix. Yes, the vague ending, which suggests that resistance is futile, has harvested the greatest number of threads, simply because of how confusing it is. Lots of people have many different theories on the ending, all of which seem entirely plausible, however, nobody is one hundred percent and I love that.

Problems I had; Okay, the notion that a University somewhere is teaching a course in paranormal phenomenon is the first big hurdle I had to get around. After that, I was supposed to believe that Raden was a... well, she's from somewhere else. It’s so damn obvious that she is what she is, that after awhile it’s like playing a game of ‘hide and go seek’ with someone standing in front of you. You’re literally counting the minutes to the big reveal, which is so underwhelming; you’d almost wish that she wasn’t what you suspected. Now that would have been a reveal. Sara is so completely tuned out to the reality of her situation for such a major portion of the film that it’s like watching “The Sixth Sense” but with a blind Haley Joel Osment. Her awareness of her situation is hazy at best, and much of the time she is playing catch up… with the audience. The fact that each death ends with a character coming out of his or her body and observing the former self, is something that only the audience indulges and for reasons only apparent to the director. However, the fact that the Bafaro opted out of answering each and every question advanced, like the out of body experiences, was a plus.

One thing that will really appeal to horror fans is the bathtub-drowning scene, which is far and away the best I’ve ever seen in a film anywhere. Yes, you heard that correctly, this is the single greatest bathtub drowning sequence in cinema history. Due to a combination of Jane Sowerby’s solid acting, Peter Allen’s haunting score and Joseph Fitzpatrick’s brilliant editing, this scene comes together as a terrifying and tension-filled moment, one that will leave you in a state of shock. This scene is so damn intense, that I found myself rewinding just to see it again. I suspect that some film lover somewhere will invariably consult this scene when staging his or her own bathtub death scene. Michael Bafaro should definitely be proud of this one. Sadly, the death scenes can’t sustain the film, which slows down to a dead crawl at about the midway point. A scene where Mennell wanders through a library while somebody watches her, had me checking my watch. Thankfully, things eventually pick back up again as the film makes the final stetch.

Laura Mennell (2009's "Watchmen") as Sara Tobias is a fine actress however she offers such a downbeat performance that it’s hard to like her. Identifying with her isn’t a problem but liking her, well, not so much. She spends nearly all of her screen time either grimacing or crying, that it’s hard not to disconnect from her. I know that I did. To her credit, Bafaro was probably the driving force behind setting the character’s tone. The only scenes where she actually comes to life are opposite Paul Dzenkiw, who plays her wannabe paramour Seth. Up and coming Paul Dzenkiw (2001's "MVP: Most Vertical Primate"), has a great attitude, however it’s a bit of a stretch that his character would even be attracted to someone so sour as Sara. His persistence pays off, and while the love story doesn’t entirely work, the courtship does. Relying on stereotypes for some of the characters, the jock, the snobby bitch etc... the remaining cast does well in their mostly cliched roles. Director Michael Bafaro (1998's "Sleeping Dogs") has come along way from mindless cheesy sci-fi flicks as this thoughtful piece of work will attest. No easy answers but a great little film nonetheless.