Teenagers can be incredibly frustrating, but maybe much of this frustration comes from knowing that we were once the same. Perhaps this is why Everlasting—a story centered around two teenagers—can be both relatable and compelling. It manages this in spite of our personal grievances and despite our insistence that we know better. There are certainly shortcomings to be found, but Everlasting is in itself a tale about remembering—and valuing—the positive over the negative, and perhaps it’s not a stretch for the film to ask the same of its critics.

At the very beginning, we are told by Matt (Adam David) that his girlfriend Jessie (Valentina de Angelis) has been murdered. The plot is straightforward enough from here, with a search for answers being the main driving force for our young protagonist. As Matt begins by providing their background story, we learn that he and Jessie are troubled high school students with only one source of true happiness: their love for each other. They spend their aesthetically gothic days fantasizing about death and throwing caution to the wind, and it’s only too obvious they believe themselves invincible, as teenagers often do. Jessie in particular is shown to be overly attracted to a darker lifestyle, intensely absorbed in the escape it offers her. When she decides to follow her dreams of becoming a model, Matt has no choice but to be supportive, reluctant as he is to lose her. The two drive to opportunity-laden L.A. from their hometown of Denver, with Matt using their trip as an opportunity to create a project for his film class. But after Jessie’s death, this project takes on a drastically different shape, thus becoming the story of Matt’s journey to find her killer. Told in a non-linear cumulation of his footage from both trips as well as moments of third party voyeurism, Everlasting works towards a resolution whilst keeping a strong footing on the subject of love.

Though the story may not be groundbreaking—and is undoubtedly a commentary on how such events happen all too often in real life—Everlasting manages to carve a space for itself by taking a more human approach than most. Matt states that he does not want Jessie to become just another name in a list, and the film tries its absolute hardest to ensure this doesn’t happen. Instead, Matt (as our main storyteller) painstakingly attempts to provide a complete picture of Jessie as he knew and loved her; while this does serve to create an emotional attachment for the audience, it also inadvertently highlights a lack of substance to Jessie’s character. We are provided with fleeting reasons for her often concerning behaviour and personality, such as being raised by a single mother whose own behaviour is far from perfect, but without delving into this relationship further it is hard to ascertain exactly why Jessie is so attracted to the darkness of life. As such, her “tortured soul” identity ends up feeling somewhat superficial. Matt, on the other hand, is clearly given more thought and nuance, and becomes much more cemented in our minds as a sympathetic figure.

Interestingly, many of the less central characters grab the audience’s attention and hold elements of intrigue, and this is largely due to sincere acting by more than a few cast members. Elizabeth Röhm must be mentioned for her heartbreakingly wonderful portrayal of Jessie’s flawed mother, and Pat Healy demonstrates once again that he knows all too well how to make an audience distinctly uncomfortable. As Jessie and Matt, both de Angelis and David provide solid turns in their roles, but at times present themselves underprepared to be the objects of such focus as the film provides. Director Anthony Stabley’s conviction to keep humanity at the center of Everlasting requires the beautiful, close shots of the equally attractive actors at work, but evidently proves challenging for both. However, any moments that may seem strained can be overlooked thanks to the stunning cinematography, which works not only to be visually pleasing, but more importantly, to thoroughly deliver an environment of everything the film is selling: youth, beauty and love.

The film has done particularly well within the horror community—having even won the Jury Award at the Nevermore festival recently—but it would be disingenuous to actually call it horror. At most, it’s drama with an edge. This isn’t to detract from its quality, but more to suggest that it perhaps has a more fitting place outside of the genre it is marketed toward, particularly given the rather specific (and misleading) horror-centered focus of its trailer. And so, while Everlasting may at times be as naive as its two protagonists, it also manages to be just as intriguing.

With his sophomore effort, writer-director Nadeem Soumah delivers 6 Ways to Die, a prime contender for worst film of the year. Full of poor acting, clumsy direction and an incredibly clichéd, needlessly convoluted script, the most value this film carries is that it can act as a guidebook on how not to make a movie. It’s the kind of disaster that would be funny to watch if it weren’t so infuriatingly self-serious and devoid of any real attempts to entertain. It’s a film so poorly realized that most any other crime film, no matter the quality, would look like a masterpiece in comparison.

The film follows the execution of a multi-layered, years in the making plan in which John Doe (Vinnie Jones) seeks revenge against Sonny ‘Sundown’ Garcia (Michael Rene Walton). Sonny was once a good friend and a partner in crime to John Doe before betraying him and ascending the ranks to become the top narcotics distributor for the Colombian cartels (a fact that is mentioned several times in the film to nauseating effect). John’s plan consists of killing Sonny by taking six things from him: his freedom, his love, his reputation, his most valued possession, all his money, and his life. In one of the most mind-numbingly bizarre stylistic choices the film has to offer, the revenge plot is shown in reverse beginning with Sonny’s murder at the hands of a contract killer (Chris Jai Alex) and each step concluding with a ‘One Week Earlier’ title card until the film has finally arrived at the beginning. And with each flashback, a new character is introduced as part of the revenge plot, and as a result, another actor gets a chance to embarrass themselves under the guidance of Soumah’s poor script and direction.

As bad as the acting is, it’s hard to really dissect it seeing as how basically every character in the film is played the exact same way. Outside of Sonny’s heavily underwritten wife Steph (Dominique Swain) and the annoying tech geek Hunter (Jeff Galfer), every character is a mostly silent, brooding, intense figure. And then there’s Vinnie Jones, who essentially acts as walking exposition and only appears to relay the story of betrayal for each new flashback (yes, all six of them) with bits of new information each time. None of these actors could say they’re above typical B-movie action films, yet somehow this still feels like an incredible waste of their time.

But it’s really Soumah who is at fault here. His script is full of unnecessary clichés, a pointlessly convoluted structure, and the stiffest characters assembled on screen this year. His direction is no better. It’s as if someone took Michael Mann and stripped him of all his vision. The film reeks of a desire to look “cool” and “slick,” but it comes across as a humorless parody of that style. The opening scene with Mike Jones (Tom Sizemore) is a perfect example of this, as Soumah consistently cuts from a close-up of Sizemore to several different angled close-ups of Sizemore back-to-back-to-back as if to breathe some intensity into the scene. It’s the type of scene that plays to amusing effect in something like Robert Rodriguez’s Machete, but here is delivered with such sincerity that it feels like a joke Soumah isn’t in on. The film also features a few glaring technical issues, like when a shootout includes a few poorly exposed or color-corrected shots. It’s jarring in the worst way.

And then to top it all off, 6 Ways to Die ends with one of the most asinine, ridiculous twists that I’d say needs to be seen if it weren’t for the torturous hour and 35 minutes preceding it. This twist is so laughable, it feels insulting. 6 Ways to Die is sure to go down as one of the worst films of the year if it’s not completely overlooked, although I think that might be for the best.