When we first meet Mike Peters (Deniz Michael), he seems to be your average, if lonely, guy. Working a dead-end telemarketing job and living in a sparsely furnished apartment, he can't seem to make any meaningful connections -- his landlady communicates scornfully from the other side of his locked door, his coworkers berate him, and the customers he reaches on the telephone all seem to hang up on him.

The slender thread on which his life hangs begins to fray one morning when he oversleeps and, upon calling in to work, finds that he's lost his job. Unable to find new employment, he begins a psychotic breakdown that the viewer is forced to endure with him in this unnerving film that gives you as close to a first-hand experience of mental illness as anything I've ever seen in a movie.

The first cracks in Mike's mental facade begin to manifest themselves as angry rants, such as his bellicose, tearful monologue in a bathroom after (or possibly even before) an unfruitful job interview. Before long, Mike's lack of employment leads him to begin living out of his car, and once this happens, his madness goes into full swing. He begins drinking heavily and talking to an unseen "friend" named Sam. Well, it doesn't really seem that Sam is much of a friend, because he seems to be telling Mike things that reinforce his negative self-image and drive him deeper and deeper into the well of insanity. At one point Mike seems to go on some kind of killing spree, but the film doesn't show us the details (this is actually very effective, as it makes you question how much of what you're seeing is actually happening or whether it's all in Mike's head).

In fact, if you're looking for the kind of horror film where a guy goes nuts and you see some gory murders, this is not the film for you. This is more the kind of horror film that, while it doesn't contain any big scare scenes, it leaves you on edge up until it's over because, well, this guy is Crazy with a capital "C".

Deniz Michael, who plays Mike, also wrote, directed, edited and scored the film (the use of music and sound is incredibly effective at portraying Mike's sense of displacement) and came up with the bravura touch of showing no one else but Mike onscreen for the film's entire 75 minute running time. You hear outside voices (such as the landlady, the abusive co-workers, and others "reacting" to Mike's presence) but you see no one but Mike which creates a sense of subjectivity that makes the horror of the piece that much more disturbing.

The film is also effective in laying out the reasons for Mike's breakdown in the beginning, and the fact that the film takes its time doing this pays off big time in the second half, because we're feeling some empathy for Mike, even hoping that somehow he can pull himself together. This creates a sense of real tension that doesn't let up throughout the second half of the film.

Kevin Straceski's black and white digital camerawork is another touch that underlines character, as Mike is someone who, in his craziest moments, probably thinks of the world in terms of black and white (mostly black) with everyone against him in some way.

Special features on the disc are limited to a 30-second trailer for the film, but check out what I have to say in the next paragraph and you'll see that the disc is worth it even without any special features to speak of.

The film is being sold directly by its makers over a website, www.SolitaryFracture.com and as the film is only a dollar (!), I can't recommend enough that you get over to the website, send this guy a dollar, and check out his film. It's not for the faint of heart or for those with serious ADD, but it's a trip worth taking for adventurous horror fans.