Capsules review

Capsules has an interesting concept and makes for a decent enough quasi-thriller, but with a bit more time in the lab it could have provided a true cinematic high. 

Prepping for another round of finals, chem students Dev (Caroline Potter Shriver), Maya (Kate Pittard) and Ryan (co-screenwriter Davis Browne) aren’t getting their typical buzz from their usual cocktail of drugs for late night cramming. Ryan remembers a classmate, Jasper (Marcus Fahey), who had an ingenious study guide that could help them ace their tests.

Jasper is a bit of an outcast and is initially reluctant to join a study group, but after enough prompting from Ryan he agrees. En route to study, Jasper and Ryan spot an older man passed out on the street barely clutching a vial full of mysterious pills.

Ryan holds onto the vial and breaks them out when the study party starts to get a bit dull. You’d think chemistry students would know better than to ingest an unknown substance, but then there wouldn’t be much of a movie. 

Predictably, the four students are wholly unprepared for the side effects that include discomfort, convulsions, shakes, intense sweating and violent vomiting. While their symptoms continue, they decide not to call their doctor and try and determine what’s happening on their own. 

In shorter time than expected for this crew, they realize the pills have a serious addictive quality. If they stop taking their respective pills they’re going to die when they come down from the high. Just wait until the FDA hears about this one. 

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Naturally the vial only contains but so many doses leaving the four scrambling to find a better long-term solution. This is where Director/Co-writer Luke Momo, making his full-length film debut, finds some interesting angles to explore. One makes use of the students’ educational interests while another considers the lengths desperate addicts will go to in order to kick their unwelcome habit. 

The cast is solid with Shriver and Pittard especially standing out for how they portray their characters’ very different responses to this predicament. 

Momo’s previous efforts have been 10 minutes or less shorts. At times it feels like Capsules might have been more effective with a shorter length or providing more background with the characters.  Momo and Browne give the characters just enough personality so they can react differently to their death sentence without giving viewers enough reason to invest in them.

Jasper’s enough of a blank slate that taking more time on any backstory for him would have been helpful. And with Ryan having a romantic interest in Dev, Maya is just kinda left to be the loud and rowdy character. 

Instead of crafting additional dialogue, Momo opts to fill the numerous moments of silence with a booming, borderline obnoxious score. It’s so prevalent that it overwhelms the film when the quiet or a less intrusive musical accompaniment would have sufficed. Ironically, the credits score is indicative of the soothing, almost hypnotic sound that would have been ideally utilized throughout the film. 

Production quality is overall solid despite the limited budget. Lighting is good and a surgery scene is very convincing. 

The killer withdrawal aspect of Capsules gives it a good hook, but Moma and Browne needed to devote more time on character development to make the film just as addictive. 

Rating: 6 out of 10

Photo Credit: Good Deed Entertainment/Cranked Up Films