Joey
24 Reviews
Reviews
Scared Scarfless
This film is based on the urban legend that if you wear a scary scarf that somebody from your old school gives you outside a dairy, YOU WILL DIE. Or something. There are some awesome blood/gore effects in straightforward effort from a young team. Really hilarious use of the line, which was great - however the tone of the film shifted from really serious to gaggy quite a lot, which interrupted the overall flow.
Happy Birthday Nicky Brick
Hugely entertaining and technically proficient film that combined One Shot with not only "The End of the World" but "Found Footage" also. Nice job! Some dudes are getting high on Nicky Brick's birthday, which is rudely interrupted by (impressive looking) comets falling out of the sky and destroying the world. There are lots of great gags - the woman Nicky is going to lose his virginity to, the use of the line in an onscreen soap opera - as well as some nice, knowing, genre references. The guy behind the camera yelling "looks like I'm filming the end of the world" was a particular favourite. A solid effort from start to finish, and the first real finals contender of the heats!
Paranormal Dancetivity 4- Slave to the Beat
Definitely had the best production values of the heats. Well paced, succinct and visually pretty fantastic, with a good horror-y video grade. In this film, a girl's sleep is interrupted by some full-on dancing ghosts, who rock some well choreographed moves some impressive music (original?). Unfortunately that's about as much plot as there is, and for a "dance" film, it perhaps takes a little long for any dancing to happen. The only problems with this film is what it needed, what made it to the screen you can't fault. Looking forward to seeing this team again, with an on-time film and perhaps a more fulfilling story to tell.
RODE
Really dug the faux retro look of this film. Especially the cool VHS era team logo you guys had. After hooking me with the beginning it began to lose heat as a guy monologued for like three minutes while a (admittedly cool) car drove around the place. However, when the twist was revealed it pretty made up for it. Solid effort.
Dead Meat
Beautifully shot and graded short film about a post-apocalyptic world where humans eat zombies. Nicky Brick is the lone adult (or older teenager?) in a house full of kids who survive off luring zombies in, shooting them and eating them. The child acting is impressive, and perhaps the film would have been darker/creepier if EVERY character had been a kid? A slick film with a pessimistic ending, a little dull in the middle section, but totally makes up for it in its presentation.
14 for the win
A serial killer wants to kill his 14th victim, however he has fallen out of favour with another serial killer. The villain in this revenge film was wonderfully creepy, with a cool costume (becoming a staple of this team, who I think are somehow associated with Costume Magic). The storytelling was refreshingly clear in this film, however perhaps it was so clear that the story itself was a little too simple. That being said, it looked pretty nice and held my attention throughout. Good job.
Voting Season
Heck yeah, this is absolutely what 48HOURS is about. Really impressive effort from a high school aged team, that stood out in the heat regardless of their age. The film follows a Head Girl election process at a high school which is marred by a serious of increasingly creative murders, particularly liked the one where the murderer rubbed butter on the stairs. Just the right amount of tomato sauce blood, energetic and memorable performances from the cast - everything that makes 48HOURS great.
Tane Huata: Puppet Hunter
Super funny film with strong performances across the board. A mockumentary about a Conan The Barbarian style warrior who travels through modern day towns murdering puppets - while they are still on people's hands. This film was very slick with cool post production effects, and packed with plenty of great gags... most of them being about chopping off people's hands. I particularly enjoyed the supporting character who complained about the town masseuse giving massages with stumps. Pretty light on story, but not really a problem when it's this much fun.
Green
A serious horror film with some nice editing work. Two teenage guys buy some of the latest drugs around on the market, which turn out to be cut up green leaves that you eat. The guys and some other mates drop a leaf each, which results in one going on a rampage and killing every one. The story is told in a creative, non-linear fashion with some frightening atmospheric sound editing guiding us between the lucid and drugged scenes. Ultimately, the story was a little thin and the acting fairly unconvincing. However there was some real post-production talent and a deep understanding of genre on display here.