Ink (Jamin Winans, 2009)

This fantasy riff on invisible agents of good and evil moving amongst us failed to pick up any significant distribution, and you can see that a combination of a no-name cast and bland story arc would dependably send it straight to video. On the other hand, from an effects design and editing perspective, it still carries surprising merits, with the malevolent succubi preying on humans' doubts particularly striking with their leering TV-screen faces. But there are too many negatives to really make it click: the hero leads have to stumble through lumpen dialogue and the obligatory sub-kung-fu fight scenes lack any punch. Winans is clearly uncertain whether he's pitching a spooky bedtime story with a cute little girl as the focus, or a grittier horror piece on hidden realities like Dark City or Nightwatch, the latter of which I soon started wishing Ink to be ripping off even more dutifully.

4/10