What would you do if you found a camera that predicted the future? Personally, I'd take a lot of selfies, but you'd probably use it to invest in stocks, bet on sporting events and make lots and lots of money. You'd probably also become beholden to the machine, loan sharks would get involved and people would die. That's what happens in Time Lapse, a simple yet enjoyably engaging thriller starring Danielle Panabaker and two guys you've never heard of.

Time Lapse, which as of yet does not have an official release date or distributor, played at the Seattle International Film Festival, and of the few movies I did manage to see, this was the best one.

Director and co-writer Bradley King and other writer B.P. Cooper have assembled the kind of movie any aspiring filmmaker should make: an entertaining movie that defies what is a presumably small budget. Set almost entirely in a standard apartment unit, Time Lapse is simply constructed, but the awesome story that, as is common with time travel movies, gets more complicated as it goes along makes it so that you'll never notice.

The filmmakers properly present Time Lapse as a straightforward thriller while introducing elements that hint at something more—namely paranoia, and this nagging feeling that the characters, in the process of seeing into the future, have actually become slaves to their own yet-to-occur actions. Coupled with a few excellent but simply conceived twists, Time Lapse is alluring and addictive.

The three leads do pretty well, though Danielle Panabaker (Friday the 13th) is the strongest of the bunch. Matt O'Leary and George Finn are fine, but both struggle with their characters at time; as well written as the movie is, the individual characters are somewhat one-dimensional. Finn's character is the biggest victim; while he is the catalyst for much of what happens, some of his actions are a little hard to believe.

Time Lapse isn't without a few flaws, but it is a well constructed time travel thriller that takes full advantage of its simple premise.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.