 Robert <unk> of Newsweek remarked that the film " should be in video store bins " , and Jay Carr of The Boston Globe commented that it " starts by cheating death and ends by cheating us " . Phoebe Flowers of Miami Herald felt the film " stoops well below substituting style for substance " , whereas Lisa Alspector of the Chicago Reader described the film as " disturbing — if less sophisticated than the best SF ( science fiction ) <unk> TV " . Luke Thompson of the Dallas Observer found it " a waste of a decent premise " ; Ernest Hardy of LA Weekly said that the film " fails because it takes itself both too seriously and not seriously enough " . Although Barbara <unk> of the Chicago Tribune said that it " met the low standards of a mediocre TV movie " , Desmond Ryan of the Philadelphia Inquirer commented that it was " as full of terrible acting as it is devoid of suspense " . Both Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today and Walter <unk> of the San Francisco Examiner thought it was " stupid , silly and gory " . 
