In a desperate attempt to find a life-saving cure, terminally ill cancer patients turn to a mad scientist for help in Calvin Lee Reeder’s sci-fi thriller The A-Frame. Using a revolutionary technology that taps into the quantum realm, this 21st century Dr. Frankenstein believes that illness and disease will soon be a thing of the past. Of course, this is a sci-fi thriller after all and, naturally, his hypothesis is way, way wrong. It’s a clever reworking of the setup to David Cronenberg’s The Fly, harnessing a science we’re beginning to have a better understanding of now, but one that doesn’t manage to innovate beyond some high-tech gadgets and some extra gooey special effects.
Donna (Dana Namerode, What Josiah Saw), a talented pianist is diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, is forced to make an incredibly difficult decision: Amputate her hand in hopes of stopping the cancer from spreading further or began chemo and radiation therapy which will likely do nothing at all. The time is running out and it’s a decision she can’t bring herself to make. Luckily, a stranger in a waiting room offers her the chance to try a radical new treatment that just might give her back the life she had already begun to grieve.Â
“…if you enjoy sci-fi weirdness, The A-Frame is your quantum catnip.”
The stranger’s name is Sam (played by Johnny Whitworth, and further referred to as Dr. Demento, cause why not?), and he has built a tiny little quantum teleporter that is going to revolutionize health care, save lives, and definitely NOT liquify people. That’s definitely neeeeever going to happen… So anyway, Donna puts her hand into Dr. Demento’s maybe/not maybe death machine and zip-zap her cancer is gone. Her doctors are baffled, she’s overjoyed, and all is right in the universe. That is, until everything is very not all right in the universe. Despite Dr Demento‘s ear-to-ear grin and emphatic assurance that everything will be just fine, other cancer patients aren’t so lucky, and it’s up to Donna to put a stop to Dr. Demento and his quantum death machine that he calls “The A-Frame”.
The A-Frame is a pretty classic modern sci-fi setup, complete with a cool piece of technology that promises to end human suffering which later turns out to be too-good-to-be-true. It’s also got some fun practical effects that are bound to make a few stomachs turn, but it falls short in crafting a rock-solid story that ties the whole experiment together. It’s a low budget production that can’t afford massive set pieces (never an issue tbh), but also fails to invest time in dynamic characters that exist beyond their pained “Fuck you, cancer!” dialog. So many indie productions feel like 90-minute pilots for a season of television, and The A-Frame suffers from this also because it doesn’t scratch beyond the surface of the problem it presents.
“Great ideas, but lacks the go-for-broke explosion of creativity that I come to indie sci-fi and horror for specifically.”
The ideas in The A-Frame are great, and I’d love to see what else can be done in this space, but it lacks the go-for-broke explosion of creativity that I come to indie sci-fi and horror for specifically. That said, I’m a sucker for specific subgenres. I have my own unconditional obsessions, and I’m sure you do too. If your specific obsessions included sci-fi weirdness and gore-covered skeletons crying out in blood-curdling screams, The A-Frame is your quantum catnip.
Calvin Lee Reeder’s The A-Frame is an official selection of the 2024 Fantasia Film Festival. Click HERE to follow our continued coverage of the fest and let us know if you’re excited to see sci-fi thriller in the Nightmare on Film Street Discord!
