The 7th Dimension   Starring: Kelly Adams, Jonathan Rhodes, Lucy Evans and Calita Rainford Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment RRP: £12.99 KAL8067 Certificate: 15 Available 23 August 2010

After falling for her tutor, a young woman and her best friend turn up at his apartment, only to be drawn into a dark world of computer hacking and hidden codes. He and two associates have an elaborate computer network which bounces off of servers so that it is very difficult to be traced. They are attempting to break into the Vatican's system, and run programs which find linked hidden words in the Hebrew Koran. Reading it in increasing multitude dimensions could reveal a knowledge and power thus far unrealised. But what will that knowledge mean to the real world, and how will it affect the minds of those involved...?

The 7th Dimension is a technological suspense thriller which takes a leaf from The Da Vinci Code concept but produces an infinitely more cerebral and edgy drama. In its simplest form it uses the tool of jumping computer servers to mix quantum physics with religion to reveal an ancient clairvoyance that suggests future events are predetermined - or at least fixed in time. Breaking encryption and hacking into the Vatican is an intriguing idea. It has been used before but not to this effect. Finding hidden codes and ultimately predictions in an ancient Hebrew text, by searching two-dimensionally, is one thing, but adding the third dimension opens up a whole new world of possibilities, and when the fourth dimension of time is entered in to the mix strange events begin to influence the hackers.

It's almost impossible to describe all the intricacies of this film's plot - and I wouldn't want to ruin the journey - but suffice to say it's taut and atmospheric. Some people will undoubtedly label this existential crap, but that would be a huge injustice. Writer/director Brad Watson has created a gem here, with powerful and well-defined characters. Don't expect car chases and big explosions, but do expect a compelling and claustrophobic tale. This is the best British film I've seen since Hush.

The disc also contains an interesting making-of... documentary about getting the project off the ground.

8

Ty Power