• Home
  • About Us
  • Submit Article
  • Write for Us
  • Contact Us
Indie Shorts Mag
  • Home
  • Premieres
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
  • News
    • Film Festival News
    • Short Film News
  • Reviews
    • Short Film
    • Documentary
    • Web Series
  • Tutorials
    • Pre-Production
    • Post-Production
  • Submit Short Film
No Result
View All Result
Indie Shorts Mag
  • Home
  • Premieres
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
  • News
    • Film Festival News
    • Short Film News
  • Reviews
    • Short Film
    • Documentary
    • Web Series
  • Tutorials
    • Pre-Production
    • Post-Production
  • Submit Short Film
No Result
View All Result
Indie Shorts Mag
No Result
View All Result

Hickey: An Unnecessarily Long Entry In A Vampire’s Diary

Indie Shorts Mag Team by Indie Shorts Mag Team
06 Nov 2019
in Reviews
0
Hickey - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

Hickey is a supernatural drama accompanied with the gore fest, heavy on audio strings yet easy on its trajectory. Bagging the spot for Best Director in Horror Hotel Award & June Award, Kyle Kleege presents this short in 18:27 minutes. 

Kleege gives the cue to the sombre, perturbing reality of a man turned vampire right in the beginning: dripping blood and a discomfited man cleaning up a neck wound. This is how the plot establishes itself with the permutation of high-angle camera and close-up to medium close-up shots. Soon turned vampire, this man (Played by Ben Amendolar) preys on humans to consume their blood. Unsurprisingly, he does away with ethics and morals.  Along the way, he turns a female co-worker into a vampire, later going on hunts together. 

Hickey - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

Kleege, who also dons the hat of the writer, leaves the short in dearth of finesse. The storyline is overly long and drawn out. He narrates his story without dialogues; DoP Lakota Ruby-Eck (also known for his cinematography in The Silver Star) renders scenes in different tones of lighting. His usage of red and blue coloured lighting designed to uplift the dramatic quotient demarcates one scene from another, but shots run on much longer than necessary, worsening the film’s lack of tonal focus. 

The trio of music composers Stephen Hitt, Zach Hitt and Peter Schrom has delivered a score which ranges from pop to opera, which are more often than not in tonal disagreement, both with each other and with the visuals. 

Hickey - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

Ruby-Eck’s cinematography varies from a slightly experimental nature to merely bland. He kept his protagonist central to the theme throughout the narration. Here, a shallow depth of field serves the purpose. He uses this technique quite often in the story-telling. But, particularly, it stands out where the undead man follows his prey, a woman (Charity Buckbee). The legs leading towards the lady were kept in sharp focus, blurring the rest in the frame. Choreography of this scene is by some degrees more effective than most of the film. The built-up tension soon gives away as Kleege had no captivating suspense to offer the audience. The movie starts to drive on a slow-paced and repetitive track from here on.

The performances, however, deserve credit, for they made the most of their characters and sincerely delivered according to the demands of the script (special mention for end scene). Hickey is a story you have seen play out more than once, often better than in this instance. If anything gives it merit, it is the grit of its actors. 

Hickey: An Unnecessarily Long Entry In A Vampire’s Diary
2.7 / 5 Stars
Direction
Cinematography
Screenplay
Editing
Music
Tags: ReviewShort Film Reviews
Previous Post

The Wind Phone: Letters Of Love Written On The Wind

Next Post

Fragile Ghost: A Fragile Revision Of History

Indie Shorts Mag Team

Indie Shorts Mag Team

Related Posts

Fish Out of Water - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag
Reviews

Fish Out Of Water: Mellow Look Into A Child’s Inner World

20th January 2021
2125 - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag
Reviews

2125: A Quarantine Much Worse

19th January 2021
Next Post
Fragile Ghost - Short Film Review - Indie Shorts Mag

Fragile Ghost: A Fragile Revision Of History

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

From Editor’s Desk

Editor’s Picks: 2020’s Flashback In One Go!

Editor’s Picks: 2020’s Flashback In One Go!

Sponsored

  • Recent Reviews
Facebook Twitter Instagram

About Indie Shorts Mag

Indie Shorts Mag is a publishing agency that works within the ‘short film circuit’. We review short films, documentaries, music videos and web series, amongst others. We stand out amongst the short film review sites for being multi-diverse & global in our platform and reach.
Our team works tirelessly to help promote, publicize and market your short films that deserve the shout-out! Besides reviews, we host film festival news as it’s a known fact that the film festival buzz is unmissable and we ensure you aren’t left behind!
We aspire to form a niche for ourselves as the ‘short film magazine’ that remains the hub for filmmakers & their audience.

Popular Topics

  • Announcements
  • Articles
  • Crowdfunding
  • Editorial
  • Film Festival News
  • Film Festivals
  • India Edition
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
  • Marketing
  • News
  • Online Premiere
  • Post-Production
  • Pre-Production
  • Reviews
  • Short Film
  • Short Film Competition
  • Short Film News
  • Tutorials
  • Web Series

Indie Shorts Mag on Instagram

Follow Us On Instagram

  • #ShortFilmReview: Fish Out Of Water: There
  • #ShortFilmReview: Nene: Her life was summed up in one canvas. Read our review. Link in bio.⠀
⠀
⠀
@kinglouiefilms⠀
⠀
#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #ShortFilmReview: La Jaula: Can you get yourself out of the network? Read our review and watch the short film. Link in bio.⠀
⠀
⠀
@umbra_directors⠀
⠀
#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #ShortFilmReview: Anna: The promise to a better life passes through hell. Read our review. Link in bio.⠀
⠀
⠀
@annafilm19⠀
⠀
#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #ShortFilmReview: The Invitation (Die Einladung): Dinner could change everything. Read our review. Link in bio.⠀
⠀
⠀
@thorsten7319⠀
⠀
#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm
  • #ShortFilmReview: Yearbook: All of mankind
  • #ShortFilmReview: Comfort Zone: Free your voice. Join the movement. Read our review and watch the short film. Link in bio.⠀
⠀
⠀
@jordanblady⠀
⠀
#DocumentaryFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportindieFilm
  • #ShortFilmReview: Dreamers: The system might be rigged, but you aren
  • #ShortFilmReview: The Killing of Time: Hubris cannot escape downfall. Read our review and watch the short film. Link in bio.⠀
⠀
⠀
@neil.murphym⠀
⠀
#ShortFilm #Review #IndieFilmReview #FilmReview #SupportIndieFilm

© 2015-2021 Indie Shorts Mag

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Premieres
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
  • News
    • Film Festival News
    • Short Film News
  • Reviews
    • Short Film
    • Documentary
    • Web Series
  • Tutorials
    • Pre-Production
    • Post-Production
  • Submit Short Film

© 2015-2021 Indie Shorts Mag