User Reviews

Having seen many student films, "Angel in Chains" was an unexpected pleasure. Easy to see it was a labor of love...not just an assignment for graduation from film school. The first thing that struck me was the cinematography...so bravo to the DP. The story was next....it's charming. Being that it's a religious university, I had expected a lot of "holier than thou's" and G-d references, but this story is told simply and honestly....and the casting for the most part was right on. I expect we'll be seeing more of little Chelsea..not to mention her early Glenn Close resembling mom Tana Lee.

I hope the filmmakers are submitting this to student festivals..It would be a worthy contestant. If anyone gets a chance to find this film...it'll be enjoyed.

Being one of the students who worked on the film, I'm a little biased. Having watched it over and over frame by frame we would cringe at every little glitch and flaw. Looking back on it now a year after filming puts it into a whole new perspective. I must admit that in hindsight it's a pretty darn good little movie. Yeah, there are the usual problems that every independent low-budget film encounters, but it still remains a visually impressive labour of love. Watching it now I catch myself wondering in amazement, "Wow, did it really look this good when we were working on it?" Goes to show how jaded your eyes can get when you've been staring at footage for so long.

For most of the crew, this was completely new territory. Given amateur actors and a student crew, there's so many good moments packed in that movie that you almost forget it was first time learning experience for everyone. Don (Rip) WAS his character and Chelsea (Becky) was such a little darling. Their off-screen chemistry definitely shows up in the movie. The special making-of and commentary track add a lot of value to the DVD. It's like a bit of film school on disc. If we could do it over again, there are so many things that would be different. Like spending twice as long developing the story, not leaving audio as an afterthought, and training freshman on basics BEFORE we got on set. :) Even so, I have to say that despite some of its flaws, "Angel in Chains" is still a really solid piece I am proud of. It's a beautiful looking film and shows the meaning of true acceptance in a way that usually doesn't get presented from the Christian market.

Here's looking forward to the next one!

The movie "Angel in Chains" is a flawed effort. The story suffers from simple characters, generic situations, and stereotypical casting. When taken into consideration on a larger scope, the movie stands up slightly better. The second effort from a brand new film school, the film is fairly solid from a technical stand point. Some very beautiful images of Arizona are captured, giving the film an excellent feel. On the downside, the sound is quite lacking. A lively score provided by the group Bailie and the Boys helps in this department a bit, but cannot make up for the poor audio.

Overall, a valiant but flawed effort. Hopefully the next film will surpass this one not only technically but especially in the story areas.

This was one of the cutest short films i have seen in a long time. I actually went to the premiere in Chattanooga, TN. I had a great time. The acting in this movie was awesome, especially little Chelsea Claxton, the lead. Her mom in the movie is her mom in real life also, so that was cool to find out. The actors were so nice.

They stayed 2 1/2 hours after the premiere to sign autographs.

I give this movie a definite 10! Maybe we'll see more of them in future projects. :)

This movie definitely inspired me. I found out that acting is what i really want to do! And Lynn Taylor's comment really inspired me also. I thought i did not so well in this movie. But i guess everybody thought i was cute and adorable. Haha. Now I'm a teen ager and my acting career is slow right now. But hopefully it'll pick up the pace in my teen years.

I gave this movie an eight because i thought that i could have done a lot better! I was only 9. But still. It was so much fun. The energy that was going on was just happy all the time. But serious too. I loved working with the crew and everybody looking after me and everything. Especially Daniel. "The Wardrobe Guy". He was awesome! And funny. This was an experience I'll never forget and that I want to live with. Acting is my life.

If you guys haven't seen this movie yet. You might like it. But if you don't just remember it's not all that easy.

love, Chelsea