24th days

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Synopsis:

Dan and Tom meet in a gay bar. The seemingly casual pickup turns into a nightmare when Tom accuses Dan of infecting him with HIV from a previous encounter. Toms holds Dan captive for 24 days until he gets the results of Dan s blood test, vowing to kill him if he is HIV positive. 

 

 

NYTimes 

 

A Secret From the Past, a Night of Suspense By DAVE KEHR

Published: May 14, 2004

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he 24th Day," an independent video feature written and directed by Tony Piccirillo, suggests a second-rate Off-Off Broadway play as it might have been captured on a camcorder by a doting parent.
Intended to be a suspense-filled two-hander in the tradition of "Deathtrap" and "Sleuth," "The 24th Day" offers Scott Speedman, a thick slice of white bread who appeared on the WB Network series "Felicity," as Tom, an affable metrosexual who allows himself to be picked up by Dan (James Marsden), an aspiring filmmaker.
Taking Dan back to his apartment, Tom suddenly turns shy, then sinister. This gay business, he says, is new to him. He's only slept with a man once before — five years ago — and that man gave him AIDS. And that man, he suspects, was Dan.
Insert first act curtain here. When we come back, Dan is Tom's prisoner, tied to a chair and forced to listen as Tom pours out his emotional history. It has been 24 days since Tom discovered that he had the AIDS virus. He believes that he passed the virus on to his wife, who committed suicide when she learned she was ill. Dan, says Tom, must pay. He draws a blood sample from his prisoner and submits it to a laboratory; if it comes back positive for H.I.V., Dan will die.
Much of "The 24th Day" is devoted to a psychological tug-of-war, as Dan tries to get the upper hand by faking sympathy for Tom and drawing him into personal conversation. (There is a long debate over who was the best Charlie's Angel — Kate Jackson or Farrah Fawcett — although the young protagonists would have barely been out of diapers at the time the show was on.)
There are a couple of violent reversals and a couple more minor revelations, as the film, which opens today in Manhattan, drifts toward its crushingly predictable climax. Mr. Piccirillo's direction reflects a basic knowledge of stagecraft but no discernable sense of filmmaking. The dull television-style close-ups march relentlessly across the screen, leaving only the ghostly trails of badly transferred video images behind.
"The 24th Day" is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian), for strong language and adult situations.
THE 24th DAY
Written and directed by Tony Piccirillo; director of photography, J. Alan Hostetter; edited by Aaron Mackoff; music by Kevin Manthei; production designer, Norman B. Dodge; produced by Nick Stagliano; released by Screen Media Films. At the Village East, Second Avenue at 12th Street, East Village. Running time: 97 minutes. This film is rated R.
WITH: James Marsden (Dan), Scott Speedman (Scott) and Sofia Vergara (Isabella).
 

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