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In November of each year, The After Dark Horror Festival, and the 8 Films to Die For, are released in theaters across America. In 2006, I saw several of these films, and in 2007, their were no theaters close enough to take in the latest horror concoctions. Lucky for me, the second series of the 8 Films to Die For have been released to DVD.

Like most of the films in the series, The Deaths of Ian Stone has your basic no name cast, but doesn’t suffer as a result of it.

Mike Vogel (Cloverfield) plays the character Ian Stone who is quickly established as an American who in a twist of fate is killed only to wake up in a new life, only to start the chain all over again. Instead of living the same day all over again, ala Ground Hog Day, He is killed and reborn into a new life at precisely 5:03 each day.

As the mystery unravels, you will find out why Mr. Stone is being killed, and who is killing him, with a cool climax that almost begs for a sequel.

This movie borrows from several flicks that I have enjoyed including The Matrix, Aliens, The Butterfly Effect and more. While it may not be 100% original, it does introduce some new ideas instead of just being another lame slasher or torture flick. The story was just interesting enough to keep me curious, and the special effects were pretty good, for a low budget movie.

If you are a fan of horror movies, you may want to rent this one and give it a shot. I thought it was cool, and you might too!

Rating: Out of 5