With the new horror film adaptation from best-selling author Ted Dekker - House, opening this weekend ... I decided to watch and review Thr3e, another thriller based on his first  novel adaptation that snuck out in 2007.

Why this film tanked (beyond lack of publicity, and limited release in theaters) is beyond me. Yes, I have sludged through the complaints by critics over what they claimed was pushing some pro-Christian agenda onto the viewer (BEFORE I saw the film, last night). As a devote Atheist, I didn't see anything ANYWHERE near such a thing, save a single line in the final scene. Hell (pun intended), the film is about a seminary student, the struggle between the good and evil inside all of us, and a psychotic killer forcing his victims to ...

CONFESS

Kevin Parsons is a seminary student, struggling to finish his latest draft of his thesis regarding the nature good and evil within man. He receives a bizarre cell phone call from a masked-voice stranger, threatening to blow up his car if he doesn't confess some unknown sin, and answer a riddle. Confused and panicked, he abandons his car before it explodes.

Kevin's near-death experience comes to the attention of Detective-turned-author Jennifer Peters, who 3 months earlier narrowly escaped the "Riddle Killer," after her brother was murdered in a previous car bomb by the same serial killer. She has questions for Kevin, but Kevin is unable or unwilling to answer what sin he might have committed in his past, that the Riddle Killer is seemingly privy to.

An insurance investigator, Samantha Sheer ... Kevin's childhood friend, hears about the incident and comes to offer her help. Kevin receives another cell phone threat and riddle, against his family dog. Here we begin to get some insight into Kevin's past, as he returns to his childhood home, in hopes to save his favorite pet. Kevin's family is beyond odd, to say the least, including his aunt (brilliantly portrayed by Priscilla Barnes) who demands to be called "Princess" by all.

Bit by bit, we learn what Kevin's sin is ... a tall boy that bullied him mercilessly, had been trapped by Kevin in an abandoned warehouse, during their last confrontation. He was never from the neighborhood, and no one ever knew his name. Kevin finally confesses his sin to the Riddle Killer, during a broad-casted phone call ... but it fails to appease the stalker.

• Kevin Parson - Marc Blucas (Eleventh Hour, The Killing Floor, very cool as Animal in Prey for Rock & Roll, Wes Craven's They, and of course Riley Finn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series, the upcoming Deadline and ... oh wow, here's an adaptation I MUST get my hands on from my fav duo horror author's John Skipp and Craig Spector's Animals)
• Det. Jennifer Peters - Justine Waddle (The Fall, Wes Craven's Dracula 2000, and next year's futuristic drama Mishen)
• Samantha Sheer, Kevin's friend - Laura Jordan (Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead)
• Balinda, Kevin's aunt - Priscilla Barnes (yup, Three's Company's Terri, Trailer Park of Terror, Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield, The Visitation, Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects, Unseen Evil 2, She Spies, The Invisible Man series, G vs E tv series, Viper, Time Trax tv series, Witch Academy, Stepfather 3: Father's Day, Lords of the Deep, 1978's tv version of The Time Machine)
• Eugene, Kevin's uncle - Tom Bower (Battlestar Galactica, 2006 remake of The Hills have Eyes, Hearts in Atlantis, Roswell tv series, The X-Files tv series, The Postman, The Killing Jar, the original series The Bionic Woman, and the upcoming For Sale by Owner)
• Bobby, Kevin's simple cousin - film editor and producer, Jeffrey Lee Hollis (Unidentified)
• Capt. Milton, Jennifer's boss - Max Ryan (Death Race, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Attila, and look next year's Relentless and a film he co-produced Dark Moon Rising)
• Det. Mike - Sherman Augustus (Avalon: Beyond the Abyss, Star Trek: Voyager, Virus, Viper tv series, Rumplestiltskin, Space Marines, Digital Man, Camp Fear, and next year's Thorns from a Rose)
• Henry, Kevin's classmate - Kevin Downes (producer/actor of The Moment After and The Moment After 2, Time Changer)
• Roy Peters, Jennifer's brother - Adam Malecki
• Tall Boy - Jack Ryan
• Young Kevin - Bruno Jasienski
• Young Sam - Allana Bale (House)
• Dr Francis, Kevin's professor - veteran actor, Philip Dunbar (Nature Unleashed: Volcano, The Avengers tv series)
• Slater - Bill Moseley (Alone in the Dark 2, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Rob Zombie's Halloween, Homesick, Grindhouse, Babysitter Wanted, A Dead Calling, Fallen Angels, Evil Bong, HBO series Carnivàle, Vicious, Essence of Echoes, The Convent, Prehysteria! 3, and we all know him best as Otis from Rob Zombie's House of a 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, Army of Darkness, remakes of Night of the Living Dead and The Blob, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and a ton of upcoming fright fests - The Graves, Dead Air, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, Blood Night, The Tortured, Memories of Murder)
• Hot Dog Vender - Kai Schoenhals

Don't think you will figure out who the killer ever is, until the very end. The story feeds the viewer pieces of the puzzle, and even the answers to the riddles won't make any sense till the final scenes. It twists and turns so many times, during the last half hour ... it is truly head-spinning.

If Ted Dekker or the FoxFaith studio used this story as flag waving attempt to sway me into believing God almighty ... they failed, terribly. If, however, they were simply making a semi-faith friendly film through an engaging psychological thriller ... than they succeeded, wholeheartedly, in my opinion. And seeing another creepy performance from actor Bill Moseley, was the icing on the cake for this fan of Rob Zombie films.