love you, baby

A documentary about the last phone call I had with my annoying wife. Impressive choreography and photography. If you have kids who are scared of ladies coming down stairs do NOT bring them to any screenings of this spookablast

Oh Breadwinner! What a meanie Hubby you were! Ha ha
That poor woman, jeepers I was clutching my seat. The whole one take thing done so well, so scary. Nice timing of moves and the conversation. Felt very authentic. Hard to be home alone after that.

So well done guys! Sets such a good spooky atmosphere, the boyfriend character is perfect at being the dismissive unlikable character (had me actually rolling me eyes) and the end reveal made me jump at the heats! Nice lighting throughout and great use of the houses layout for the one take.

What I liked:
Some nice things going on in the background here, and I think everyone has been in this situation where they have or think they have heard noises inside their house when alone. Houses get big in that situation! The dilemma of investigating or trying and shutting any thoughts out of your head and going to sleep is very relatable. The very slow, disguised reveal at the end is particularly well done, and given the aspect ratio it all feels very claustrophobic. I’m a huge fan of films with no music and (apart from one hit) only diegetic sound. So good! Great execution of the one-shot too. Very nice.

Take it or leave it:
Maybe I should have watched this late at night in a dark room with no one else in the house, ‘cos I just wasn’t scared at all either for me or the lead! I think this had to do with the script (there’s a bit of redundant dialogue – “Sorry to call you so late/Do you know what time it is?”) or the direction of the lead – the swings of panic and calm aren’t really sold or timed well enough. She does a great job at the end – it’s really good - but I didn’t get that she was really that worried up until that point – and shit got real well before that. It's just not sustained one way or another. Either go full scared or blase`, maybe. I get the conversation with the boyfriend; it’s a useful distraction and raises questions about who is to blame in their relationship, which sounds like it’s coming to an end anyway. He’s suspicious of Liam; he mentions a previous lie. He’s dismissive, and sounds fed up. He puts the blame on her, and she weakly tries to defend herself. What’s the commentary here? Bad men, or are we putting it on women? Is she literally hiding from the truth, pretending it will all go away? Her ghosts of the past coming back to haunt her? It all depends on your perspective, I guess!

Final hot air:
Look, this is a really good, solid horror without doing anything new. Alone in the house hearing noises is a very common way to go, but this short is well made, in the shortlist and probably one of the finalists. Well done, rip focus: Tokyo Drift!

I was not expecting this from Rip Focus – a different vibe from your usual for sure, and one you pulled off really well! This short was one of my personal favorites this year– what an absolutely fantastic use of one-take.
I thought the tension build was super effective, and while rewatching it at home in the daylight still felt creepy, at the heats I was thoroughly spooked. Definitely one to watch in a dark room for full impact!
The rising threat in-line with the rising toxicity of the partner gave deeper meaning to the story, and the character being silenced as the hands wrap over her mouth at the end really hit that parallel home. I thought the acting got stronger across the course of the film too.
Congrats on a great short - expecting to see this at city finals!

Very powerful, a great a one take

Now here's a film with a lot of nominations! Clearly the judges appreciated the many different components of this carefully choreographed one-shot. A lot of planning must have gone into this masterful execution.

The phone call is great, revealing a challenging relationship while building tension. The main character tries to ignore her fear and convince herself that everything is okay. The performance is excellent.

Action in the background is most effective when humans are hidden in shadow or appear thoroughly unnatural – the hatch and door that open by themselves to reveal darkness; the hand pressed against a window; the unnatural being descending from the attic; and the thoroughly disturbing two beings at the end with their unnatural faces. Impenetrable shadows force the audience to imagine for themselves what horrific beings lie in wait.

I'm pulled out of my suspension of disbelief when a human is too visible and walks too normally. Maybe pushing those human appearances back into the shadows in post-production would help? Imply, don't show!

What a sinister ending. The wrapping around of the hands is so memorable. The heartbreak of a main character who seems resigned to an unimaginable fate and sets any grudges aside to say "I love you" to a man who will soon hate himself for the way he has spoken to her. A moment beautifully reflected in the film's title.

I'm not sure I understood why the phone was silent for a while before the man's ranting suddenly resumed. I realise now it's because she mutes the phone.

I love how we've had a few films this year with beautiful contrastful black and white and/or a claustrophobic 4:3 aspect ratio. This film is perhaps not the *most* claustrophobic use of 4:3 this year, but it's very nice.

Congratulations on your win!

This film stood up well to the scrutiny of the big screen at Hoyts EntX – even sitting at the front of the cinema. I was shocked to see a figure in the darkness that I had missed on all previous viewings, which makes the subsequent shot of that figure walking across the room in the background make a lot more sense, instead of feeling jarring as I alluded to in my previous review. I guess perfect shadows are impossible if you want a dark film to play well on screens of all sizes and in all lighting conditions.

This film powerfully resonated with my companion at the finals in the way it touches on coercive control and abusive relationships.

love you, rip focus. looked stunning on the big screen, great execution, performances and genuine meaningful story. so happy to see you win so many categories and take home the big one!

For context, this was the only film I didn't see in the heats as I had to duck out just before it started, and by the time I tried to pull up the livestream it was gone.

To see this film, for the first time, as a huge horror movie fan, in the front row on the huge entX screen, was an absolute TREAT!! I was blown away with what I was seeing. The commitment to making a genuine horror film is SO refreshing to see! There really is nothing like this in the competition this year! I also want to praise the choice of building the film around an emotionally abusive relationship, without it becoming violent or torturous. Its really commendable, and I feel like other filmmakers could have taken that aspect way too far without it actually adding to the overall film. Its just the perfect dose of tense horror that really gets under your skin. This approach to the genre is exactly why OBSESSION was such a break out hit. I have been itching for some more 48hour horror films, and we got some GREAT picks this year (Birthday Wish, Nadir, EOD, and most of MASHED) but nothing that lands quite like this. I also didn't detect a single cut on my first watch, but apparently it's made up of 5 takes??! Unreal work. Whoever was on the camera really nailed the technical elements. I can't be the only person that never expected the spinoff of RipFocus to be better* than the original RipFocus, but here we are!(I should have seen this coming after last years film + the 24 hour film, but I guess that's hindsight)

This team has some seriously talented people in it, bringing a whole new creative energy to the competition and I hope you absolutely clean up at the grand finals! Shine on you crazy Tokyo Drifters!

After nine years of competing, with many finalist spots and various regional awards under their belt, and with 27 different creatives contributing, weaving in and out of this team over that time, rip focus have prevailed this year as Ōtautahi Christchurch's regional winner! Incredible stuff.

We knew this one would be considered a big tonal swing for this team, and we knew the films strengths would make it a quiet, confident contender for a high score - but we didn't expect it to be recieved by the panel as warmly as it was, and it's always great to see a reliable Christchurch team have it all come together like this.

Here's what this film does that made it stand out this year: it is properly tense, AND it has a real authentic story underneath it. That combination is rarer than it sounds in this competition, rarer still that a team that is more commonly known for it's silly silly fun time would be able to knock it out of the park. That being said, maybe we shouldn't be so surprised - rip focus' 2020 lockdown submission 'QK' is a (self proclaimed) hidden gem that really captures James' ability to write serious, thoughtful work about personal trauma. This years film is actually in many ways a return to form for James, amplified by incredibly impressive newcomers, Stella, Steph and Alice, along with reliable support from Stephen and Fraser.

As Buddy mentions, we did get some tense films, and a few strong thoughtful films this year, but a horror that is actually scary, and that is *about* something when you sit with it afterwards? That's what makes this one stand out. This is one of the first films in a while that has pulled off tense, serious and thoughtful all at once without one of them eating the others. I think that's probably all it was to see this one take off the way it has.

Perhaps more shocking then the win for you guys is that editing nom hahahaha. Like I say, judging be a mystery, but when you have questions coming up like 'how did that camera have enough space for Stella to run in front of it without it colliding into the ladder' and then from the audience questions like 'how does an editing nom go to a film with no cuts' it actually re-enforces the stunning amount of technical work on display to get these scenes flowing together so naturally. The judges don't know this, but here's the fun fact we obviously kept to ourselves about this one, we knew you only had one light to work with, so knowing that and then seeing how you blended each room together to light each moment individually was absolutely outstanding.

And then there's the story itself, another film that invites the audience to step into ones shoes, and equally leaves you with a number of thoughtful questions. The biggest one for me being, 'What do the spooks represent? Is what we're seeing a paranomal experience in the house, or the physical manifestation of the anxiety and trauma the lead is experiencing", after a few watches it's fun to notice how certain moments of dialogue are paired with a spooky moment, and as others have mentioned here too, I appreciate that it wasn't as simple of a relationship as Stephen's the bad bad man throwing ghosts her way, but actually she is so worn down and the situation is so toxic that any little thing she might say to him could be something that opens the ceiling door, and the self deprication of 'I'm just being stupid' can be so real for people in that cycle of abuse.

If I was looking over your shoulder ahead of submission, I would have probably dropped that team intro :P it's a fun tradition, but I think it pulled some audience members out of being able to embrace the whole film for what it was, it setup the idea that we were in for a silly time, and at the heats there were some who laughed initially assuming that's what you were meant to do. Still, it obviously wasn't a drawback for the judges, so this is just a taste thing I suppose.

THE BEST THING: A big congratulations for you all. To end on a slightly different angle, my reflection for the best thing about this film is that James has made some incredible friends. And as you mentioned in your acceptance speech, spending time with friends and having a good time over the weekend is the ultimate goal of this comp - you're lucky to have such talented friends really raising the bar for the team this year, ones that bring perspectives and experiences to the table that deserve championing.

THE NEXT THING: I don't see this team being one that is interested in continually aiming for the tippy top of the competition. Getting there is a huge bonus, but we won't be surprised if you choose to pull a team diversity next year, or worse. You're an audience first kind of team, so whatever you choose to do, we look forward to it!

Firstly, congratulations on your Christchurch victory rip focus: Tokyo Drift! I've heard the finals were a wonderful night and it's genuinely great to see long time competitors take home the much coveted Apee for their region.

Here we have a woman home alone on a Saturday night, scared because she thinks she hears something in the attic; who calls the guy she thinks she can rely on for support and comfort and instead gets gaslit, emotionally abused and interrogated whilst at at the same time the ominous dread builds towards a chilling climax.

Technically really impressive for a one-shot. Whoever was operating that camera and gimble did one heck of a great job tracking the film with super smooth precision.

The film was also very cleverly pieced together using moments of light or dark to blend the seams and I can only imagine audience reactions of 'huh? how did they?...' so I get why you were nominated for best editing (even though I don't agree with it on principle for this particular genre :p). Low-lit lighting and the 4:3 tight framing also gave you more legwork to work the edges of what was off camera.

Normally I'm not a great fan of shooting at houses, but the location was perfect for the vision you presented as allowing for literal physical wraparounds really played well to allowing disorientation and the audience tension to rise as spaces get filled by persons or creatures that are unclear if they're even from the same dimension.

It's clever, and I get that by presenting our central protagonist in clean cut white that you went for the good vs evil sledgehammer metaphor.

Just personally I found the story itself took a little bit away from your technical wizardry. Its hard to be particularly critical because the lead performance was phenomenal, and intimate domestic abuse is a sad but all too real indictment of New Zealand in general. But just from a form point of view we got our lead who were were supposed to like, and the vile boyfriend on the phone, and the menacing threat.

But the problem is that when it's all one side is black and the other side is white, without making our heroine having more clearly defined traits than being a victim I wasn't fully sold on rooting for her escape or worried about the threat especially when the creatures from the attic were so mysterious (and done very similarly in [REC] back in 2007)

And whilst audio was generally great throughout there were several moments where the use of space did not fit the phone from a continuity point of view.

Overall a great achievement for 48 just with a couple of elements that I wasn't 100% about.