Joseph Covello’s 10-minute horror, He Comes At Night is bleak. At its centre is an 8-year-old girl, about to be burdened with the isolating discovery that there are in fact, such things as monsters. Her parents have a strained marriage. Alexa, played by Georgia Rickerby, soothes herself by grooming her doll. Even then, slamming doors… Continue reading He Comes At Night: A Shift Of The Expectations From Horror
Tag: Private
Next of Kin: A Taut Drama About Death And Identity
Next of Kin, Marissa Vonn’s 10-minute drama, has two things right off the bat that makes it so compelling: its protagonist, and the relationship they share with their colleague, the only other character in the plot. Helena, played by Jamie Morrow, keeps to herself for most of the workday at her newspaper office, typing obituaries… Continue reading Next of Kin: A Taut Drama About Death And Identity
Longest Day Of The Year: An Antidote To Emptiness
And they take a walk.” Thus ends Lauren Hoover’s pandemic comedy, Longest Day Of The Year. Simple though that statement is, it is heavy with significance, accumulated over a long 18 months when taking a walk was often impossible, or the most anyone was allowed to socialise. Longest Day Of The Year, a chipper 10-minute film, takes… Continue reading Longest Day Of The Year: An Antidote To Emptiness
Hell In A Handbasket: It Could Get Much Worse, Apparently
The pandemic has been a dumpster fire. And it keeps getting worse. Writer and director Lee Chambers gets straight to it. His 5-minute comedy, Hell In A Handbasket zooms straight to the people who could potentially make it better: scientists. At the centre of the plot is Dale Borger (Robert Bryn Mann), a scientist deep in his… Continue reading Hell In A Handbasket: It Could Get Much Worse, Apparently
Just A Boy: The Big And Small Struggles Of Immigration
Angela Koh’s Just A Boy shows the dual struggle of being an immigrant child in a rich country: outside the home, you are met with (often violent) racism, and at home, parental pressure awaits. For you have the privilege of being in the land of opportunities, and so failure is out of the question, and showing weakness… Continue reading Just A Boy: The Big And Small Struggles Of Immigration
Danny Boy: A Well-Paced, Crime Thriller For The Gangster Genre Aficionados
This 12:32-minute-long Cory DeMeyers film packs in everything and more than one would expect from a gangster genre. There is friendship, there is betrayal, there are the profanity-filled, realistic conversations and a well-thought-out crime. Except that, DeMeyers, in under 15-minutes not only proves his mettle as the director of Danny Boy but also touches upon… Continue reading Danny Boy: A Well-Paced, Crime Thriller For The Gangster Genre Aficionados
Occupied: A War Drama On A Largely Overlooked Historical Event
Watching writer-director Alex Bates’s Occupied is equivalent to having a slice of history lesson served with drama and philosophy; and all within an unquestionably good period-setting. It is the 40s’ and in the 21:56-minute long narrative, Bates not only manages to successfully recreate the premise and the stunning imagery of the Channel Islands, but also… Continue reading Occupied: A War Drama On A Largely Overlooked Historical Event
Life’s A Show: Large Egos About Nothing, A Pandemic Era Comedy
A trademark feature of the pandemic is the sudden crop of video calls within the narrative as a storytelling tool. Limited though it is (much like everything else), this relatively new territory does bring the opportunity to reimagine the way we tell stories, and even the very stories we tell. Harvey Puttock’s comedy, Life’s A Show dips… Continue reading Life’s A Show: Large Egos About Nothing, A Pandemic Era Comedy
Daytrip Massacre: The Fast Fun Of Horror Comedy
The genre of horror-comedy boasts of two things: gore (the more the better) and laughs (the funnier is also the gorier). With Artie Brennan and Anthony Giordano written and directed Daytrip Massacre, it is not much different, although the balance between stomach turning gore and side-splitting laughs is precarious, and played with, much and often.… Continue reading Daytrip Massacre: The Fast Fun Of Horror Comedy
Compliant: A Dystopian World That Is Not Too Far Or Dissimilar From Our Own
We are introduced to the year 2065 and in not so flattering words. The pun is hard to miss; the ambience harder. The wordings are well-chosen. The telling choice with the colour palette in hues of blue and white slowly egg us for a voyeuristic ride into the future. And, the next 09:22-minute long narrative… Continue reading Compliant: A Dystopian World That Is Not Too Far Or Dissimilar From Our Own