Short Film Review Compilation

This post is going to be different from the other posts I usually do. This is because I attended a mini film festival here called "Final Breath Filmfest" and there were multiple short films with a horror/thriller theme instead of a whole movie to review. It was all local talent rather than Hollywood and other box office things I commonly get to watch. I will be honest with my thoughts still, and treat them like the big names they hope to be one day. So with that being said, I hope you enjoy the reviews.

The evening started out with the red carpet being laid out for all of those who attended. It was nice to have a small feeling of being at a big premiere event. There was excitement with the crowd as we watched the actors and crew involved in the main film being featured, Final Breath, enter the building. After some photos were taken we all headed into the theater. Norm Coyne of UNLTD Media & Events did a great job introducing the film fest and getting everything going. You could tell he was a little nervous and excited because he was pacing the stage as he talked.

The first short film is called "The Big Deal" by Jonathan Chuby. It is about two guys waiting to do their first big illegal deal and the events that happen during it. All I can really say is it was not what I was expecting coming into the film fest. Though I saw what they were going for, it was more of a comical film than a thriller. It had a little overacting, but that did help with the comedy element. It was a fun way to start things off.

The next short film is called "Through Blood Like Ice" by Chad Magnant. It is about some kidnappers waiting for their ransom payment with an unexpected twist. Though the acting was very good, I found there were too frequent of jump cuts. I understand needing the backstory in this one, even with the little amount of time they had, but I think there were just a couple too many and it actually slowed the story down. However, I did enjoy the plot twist and think it is worth watching again.

"Back Up" by Daniel Stark was the next short film to be presented. It is about a guy driving down the road at night when supernatural things happen. The actors did a great job on this one, even if they didn't say a word. This may not have given us much story to go with, but it added to the horror factor a little bit. This was also one of the shorter short films, but it did bring the scare factor into the evening.

The fourth short film featured was called "One Null" by Evan Ollenberger. It is about a group of teenagers who are fed up with people nowadays and try to escape to "The Null" but things do not go as planned. This one was by far the one that scared me the most out of all of them. Though the acting was a little flat at first, it did pick up pretty fast.

After a music video by Jer Breaks called "Come Down", featured at the end of the blog, we watched the shortest of the short films called "The Scratcher" by Daniel Stark. It is about a guy who might be having a nightmare, or is he? As this was the shortest of them all, there wasn't very much to go on. However, this one did give us a bit of a laugh as well while still giving a little bit of a scare factor.

"Defenseless" by Chad Magnant was the final short film to be shown before the main event. This one shows two guys getting high together and the things that could happen. This one was the goriest of all the films shown that night. I noticed a few people having to look away a couple of times. I liked the conflict, both individual and between the characters. 

The main event was "Final Breath" by Kim Feragen, and was one of the winners of the Storyhive by Telus creative grants for a digital short by a female director. This Film Festival was a debut of the finished product. The story is about a videographer who films peoples stories just before they die. She comes to one lady who starts telling her about the day she and a friend went looking for a lost dog and ended up in a chilling situation. I actually really like the idea of the story, but after hearing about the true story that brought about the idea, I wished they would have had more time to expand on it. It is a great idea for a full length movie where they could really develop the characters.  However, since the challenge was to create a short film, they did a great job presenting the story and giving us a build up and twist.

If you would like to check out the video for yourself please head over to Storyhive. The finished film is now in a final competition stage for a grand prize. If you like it too, then please vote for Final Breath to win. Voting can be done everyday no matter where you live and from every device you can.

The overall experience for my first film festival was fun, with a great mixture of humor, gore and thrills. Norm Coyne definitely brought a lot of energy to this event. If I could, I would go to many more of these short film festivals.