Starring Dustin Milligan, Amanda Crew, and Richard de Klerk. Rated 14A.

Caught between glitzy genre thriller and low-budget character study, Repeaters starts out well before drifting off into hand-wringing forgettability.

Perhaps there was some stylistic discord between the more poetic aspirations of prolific director Carl Bessai, who did his own cinematography (in the Lower Mainland), and screenwriter Arne Olsen, responsible for such deathless works as Red Scorpion and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. Olsen settles for the most basic what-ifs in a science fiction–tinged situation that could have occasioned some metaphysical nods—or maybe even some fun.

That sitch involves post-adolescents Kyle (90210’s Dustin Milligan), Sonia (Amanda Crew), and Michael (Richard de Klerk, who had the title role in Bessai’s Cole) stuck in a remote detention centre for drug-related offences. Part of the program, as explained by a seen-it-all social worker (Benjamin Ratner), is to make amends with people on the outside. But their day passes go weird when—thanks to a freak electrical storm (or something)—the threesome’s days start repeating themselves and there are no apparent consequences to their actions.

In this self-referencing age—and how much difference is there, really, between the Scream series and those Scary Movie send-ups?—it seems odd that none of these smart alecks quip about their Groundhog Day circumstances. (Suggested line: “Hey, I don’t wanna be the Andie MacDowell here!”)

In the end, though, this overly earnest and increasingly violent effort is defeated less by thin writing than by lack of flash. The reason those murderous-roommate movies make money is that, well, money is spent on amping up style in lieu of substance. There are three attractive young actors in Repeaters, but they don’t get the slick treatment the Twilight makers of the world would give them. Or maybe they just needed more teeth.