NEGLECTED from INAUGURAL Entertainment (2026). This mystery thriller was said to be a "Theatrical Dump." Which means that the studio didn't believe in the movie. It got a limited release back on May 8, 2026 and "bombed" over the weekend.
I walked into an empty theater here at Albuquerque to watch this. I was completely sold by the movie trailer.
The story is simple. The son of a veteran police detective is kidnapped by a serial killer. That son is buried alive and the killer wants the dad to solve three of his murders. The son has 8 hours to live.
What a great premise right?.... Right..... That's where it ends because this film rips off so many thrillers from the 1990's.
Spoiler: What made me laugh was when the serial killer gave up clues. All the detective did was have a flashback and he solved each murder. It was so damn easy.
Spoiler: What made me laugh even more.... The veteran detective freaks out over those gruesome murders. Like he had never seen anything like this in his long career. I could go on, but I will not.
Clearly this was an independent movie. It was filmed in 12 days. David Lipper served as producer, screenwriter and director. He's also in this as an actor. He clearly was influenced by 1990's thrillers. Especially "Seven" (1995) with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt.
That is all fine, but why not go in a new direction? An example is..., let the detective "sweat" it out and re-open these murder cases on his own. Let him become a real detective and don't give him any clues....
You can watch "Neglected" over at Prime Video.
