By Robert Scucci
| Printed
The phrase “vibe” has been grossly misappropriated within the yr 2026, typically referring to background noise folks throw on to generate consolation by ignoring their very own intrusive ideas. Spotify playlists are jam-packed with AI-generated music for the vibe. Much less-than-memorable discovered footage horror films provide extra vibe than substance. After I discuss vibe, I’m often referring to the stylistic decisions made in movies like 1992’s Star Timewhat I’d name a complete vibe piece.
Make no mistake, as a result of Star Time’s vibe is baked instantly into its premise. It’s kaleidoscopic, feverish, and visually enthralling regardless of its shoestring finances. Each shot feels deliberate, and it’s not one thing you throw on within the background whereas folding laundry or doom scrolling. The ever-present vibe in Star Time is existential dread, seen via the eyes of a person spiraling right into a psychotic break after his favourite TV present will get canceled.
Henry’s Murderous Delusions
Star Time introduces us to Henry Pinkle (Michael St. Gerard), a mentally unstable Los Angeles no one who solely finds consolation in his favourite sitcom, The Robertson Household. When the present will get canceled, he decides to cancel his personal life as effectively, resolving to leap off a bridge and fade to black earlier than his personal credit roll. On the final second earlier than taking the plunge, he’s approached by a person named Sam Bones (John P. Ryan), who claims to be the TV producer and supervisor who will make him a star.
In the meantime, Henry’s social employee, Wendy (Maureen Teefy), receives a videotape Henry recorded earlier than his suicide try, informing her that he’ll not require her companies.
Sam brings Henry to a TV studio, the place he turns into fixated on a wall of televisions. A lady’s voice tells him to observe his future earlier than Sam supplies him with a hatchet and an expressionless child masks. His massive “debut” includes breaking right into a home and murdering its proprietor, an indication of what’s to come back.
Absolutely satisfied he’s starring in his personal slasher, Henry begins his rampage. Wendy realizes he’s nonetheless alive after studying that Sam prevented him from leaping off the bridge. Satisfied his actions will permit him to grow to be a saint, Henry arranges to fulfill Wendy so he can introduce her to Sam, who Wendy rapidly realizes is a psychotic delusion that solely he can see. By the point she understands what Henry is getting himself into, he’s to date gone that there’s nothing she will do to deliver him again to actuality.
It’s A Complete Vibe Piece
Whereas Star Time tells a harrowing story via its screenplay, writer-director Alexander Cassini elevates it with the assistance of cinematographer Fernando Arguelles via the movie’s visuals. I’m not speaking about elaborate particular or sensible results. It’s the high-contrast lighting, claustrophobic closeups, abrasive sound design, and Henry’s sinister facial expressions that do the heavy lifting. It performs out like a slasher via its second and third acts, however that’s not the place its principal enchantment lies.
The explanation I acquired sucked into Star Time is as a result of it appears like a nightmarish, out-of-body expertise that forces me to inhabit Henry Pinkle’s fractured mindset. Typically all you want is a wall of televisions crammed with disturbing pictures to make your pores and skin crawl, and Star Time delivers at unwholesome ranges that make the hairs on the again of your neck stand straight up.
Each time I name one thing a vibe piece, movies like Star Time test each field. This isn’t a film you idly watch. You sit on the ground three ft away from the TV with out distractions as a result of that’s the power it brings. Star Time is a few man’s disturbing relationship with tv sending him down a horrifying path of exploitation and murder. If that’s the sort of vibe you’re searching for, you’ll be able to stream it on Tubi without spending a dime as of this writing.