Drugs, memory-lapse, action and intrigue wrap around “Dermaphoria” like a blanket of confusion. With a skipping pace and extremely hard to follow story, this New Orleans crime drama tests the intelligence of its audience every second it’s playing.

Directed by Ross Clarke and starring Joseph Morgan and Ron Perlman, “Dermaphoria” is an adaptation of a book by the same name written by Craig Clevenger.

The movie follows chemist Eric Ashworth (Morgan) as he seeks to learn about his recent past, which he can’t remember.

Between his fragmented character in the present, his partial memories, his drug-induced revelations, and his flashbacks to the love of his live, Desiree, “Dermaphoria” is a maze seemingly without end.

Characters come and go. Time lines jump back and forth.

The film leaves the audience holding on for the answer at the end of it all. This sort of storytelling is fine, with films like “Pulp Fiction” and “Memento” showing the impact that is possible.

But with an hour and half runtime, “Dermaphoria” I feel holds the audience for slightly too long. Most of the answers come, but they come late in the third act and leave the viewer lost for most of the flick.

I really enjoyed the roller coaster, but there were many moments I had to force myself to focus because I knew what I was watching was key to the plot.

To say the movie is slow is to not realize when certain scenes are meant to be dreams, and when others are meant to be high-octane. There is no real action in this, but the dialogue and acting between people drives the intensity forward.

Relying slightly too heavily on the dream tone, though, “Dermaphoria” suffers slightly in the end, leaving a mixed feeling with the viewer. The story is told brilliantly, but barely, and an hour and a half movie feels like two and a half.

Director Ross Clarke was in attendance at the show. He mentioned his next project will be a TV series for the BBC.

Jokingly he mentioned the show’s subject looks to be darker than the drug-induced crime nightmare that was ‘Dermaphoria’.