Marc Blucas

Watching ’Thr3e’ is like being murdered by numb3rs

While the main character in "Thr3e" is seminary student Kevin Parson, played by heartthrob Marc Blucas ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer)," the movie did not seem to preach to me until the last minute or so. That said, this is one of the most confusing, horribly written movies I’ve ever seen, and I’m the king of watching bad movies ... and liking them.

THR3E - DIRECTOR: Robby Henson - GRADE: D

CAST: Marc Blucas, Justine Waddell, Laura Jordan

RUNNING TIME: 105 minutes

RATING: PG-13 for violence, terror and disturbing images

The film was adapted from the book of the same title by evangelical Christian novelist Ted Dekker, and released through Fox Faith.

It follows Parson, a twentysomething seminary student, as he is run through a gantlet of riddles by a serial killer. At the same time, the movie tries to follow detective Jennifer Peters (Justine Waddell), whose brother is killed in the opening sequence by a killer who did not like a book she recently had published.

The film provides no real background for Peters, which makes her completely unbelievable as a character and provides no explanation for her expertise. It seems as though lines from "Thr3e" were taken out of the script by writers who forgot to add context, leaving the audience wondering where the dialogue went.

The result in a puzzling sequence of stuttered dialogue and confusing plot twists.

While there are no less than 10 different kinds of tiny cell phones in the movie, it seems to be set in the late 1980s. Or maybe today. For some reason, everyone, including the police department and the serial killer, use reel-to-reel recording equipment. But when the killer is talking to people over the phone, to those he is chasing and to himself, he uses a digital voice scrambler.