Change Your Image
GFilmsEnt
Reviews
The Laughing Mask (2014)
The Laughing Mask fails to deliver..
The film poster has a great image with a guy in a very cool mask harking back to the 80's with films like Friday The 13th, My Bloody Valentine, and Halloween. So going in to this film I had some expectation that this was going to be a cool throw back to those days. The picture starts with a girl tied to a chair with the killer and his ghostly laugh. The killer looks through his vast array of weapons choosing one, and as the girl cries out, he kills her. So far a good start but sadly the film will only have a few good parts throughout its short run time. Let's start with the script, which was a rehash of every other horror/revenge type film you've seen before. There are two plot lines moving at the same time between the cops looking for a drug dealer/pimp and the killer who is killing off all the bad guys, sound familiar? The dialogue was awful throughout the film and characters said things and did things that were just Laughable. The film tries to have a surprise twist ending of who the killer and drug dealer are, but honestly it was easy to figure out 10mins into the film. The music did not help at all as it did not have the creepiness nor suspense that would have taken the scenes to another level (Think how Halloween or Friday The 13th would have sounded like with no creepy suspenseful score.) music is 50% of your film. The editing had its issues but I have a feeling it was the lack of good direction during production. The camera work was okay, but there was nothing special about it as the camera was used in its basic level. There were no creepy lighting, no creepy angles, no real attempt at a visual style. As I understand it was shot in 4k on a Red but honestly it looked more like a regular DSLR camera. The film missed out on having any tension, suspense and cool kills and horror moments, well except for the Jack In The Box scene. The audio was almost completely ADR which leaves me to wonder what happened to the NAT sounds in the recordings. It is a tough thing to do ADR, and if you don't do it right your film comes off as a badly dubbed Chinese film. There are several good programs out there that could have fixed the NAT sound if they had issues with it. The acting was a hit and miss throughout the film, but it might go back to the weak script as some of the actors, specifically the two leads had some good moments. Now there are some parts in the film that I liked, like the strip club scene where the killer faces off with a bouncer and pulls an Indiana Jones then calls over for a drink and pays for it and another scene that also got some good laughs was as the killer goes to kill the final victim with a gardening shears. But in the end the filmmaker missed out on making a really cool horror mask into the next villain icon. Instead we are left with as a cheep knockoff of The Punisher and Dexter..
Over all the filmmakers get an A for the effort but an F for the film.
Nova Road (2014)
A short film that shows promise for its young cast and Director
Being invited to a new film with a first time director, unknown actors and a new writer is always a hit or miss. Mix that with almost an entire cast of kids and you got a recipe for disaster, that is unless you hit the casting lotto and your director hits one out of the park. Getting to the premiere you had a great atmosphere with parents and kids excited to see the film they all worked hard on. So the film opens up with a young girl being discovered alone at the side of the road, by her appearance she looks as if she was in an accident of some sort. The couple who discover her are distressed and call for help; as they do the young girl slowly turns toward the camera and smiles a scary smile. What a great start to this short film! We are then introduced to 2 young teenagers on the beach (Riley played by Madison Guthrie) and (Chris played be Tyler Perez), and instantly I smile because not only is the cinematography good but so is the sound and acting. Anyone who has shot on the beach knows that the wind can be hell to your sound, yet this sound is clean and perfect. As the film progresses, the story about Nova Road starts to open up. Chris and Riley, now in their car, drive down Nova Road, and they come across a girl stranded on the side of the road. As they pull over, the screen cuts to black and we find Riley, now along the middle of the road, bloodied with a strange mark on her wrist and her brother missing. From there we learn that there are many deaths and strange disappearances on Nova Road, The police are frustrated and feel the kids were drag racing or horsing around at the time of their accident. For Riley she just wants to know what happen to her brother and how that stretch of road has something to do with all of it. What Director Ashton Bracciodieta does with this short film shows his understanding of suspense and editing. Cinematographer Daniel Guadalupe and Composer Uriah Ocean Peterson did a great job capturing Ashton's vision. Working with young actors can be tough, but Michelle Brown's script captures their dialogue perfectly and Ashton's direction really brought out their best. Now, it's not a perfect film, as there are a few out of focus shots and few week performances, however, this is not enough to really take away from the film. The script needed a little bit more polishing but nothing to really complain about as this film is a short that is being pitched for a feature, which gives them time to finesse the script. In the end, the film leaves us on a cliff hanger that has me hoping they can raise the funds to do the feature. There were some good standouts in this film, namely Madison Guthrie, who's performance really took the film to the next level and director Ashton Bracciodieta, who is someone to look out for in the future.
Over all the film gets a sold B-