I went into this with high hopes after hearing the podcast hosted by the writer and director and was summarily let down.
The script itself is the biggest problem. At what point does "an homage to 80's slasher movies" get renamed "a rip-off of 80's movies that were already bad when they were new"? This movie does nothing new with the slasher concept and if I'd seen as many 80's slashers as the creators, I'd probably be able to tell you exactly where they got the "inspiration" for every single one of the death scenes. The second problem is that Teddy himself isn't scary at all. He's not at all imposing and you half expect the characters to laugh when they each face him for the first time. The third problem is the same problem you have with all low budget features: the acting. Kirk Gilbert and Mike Goltz do a great job with Jeff and Clay, respectively. Nikita Vora turns in an adequate performance until she's required to scream. Keegan Bergen's directions seem to consist of "stand there menacingly" and he gets the first part of it right. As for Kevin Sommerfield and Dana Terpinas, you can't wait for their characters to die so you don't have to suffer through any more of their "acting".
It's not all bad here, though. As I said above, the Jeff and Clay characters are played to perfection. The cinematography is also very well done, much better than what I expected for a low budget short. The director does what he can with what he has, but it doesn't add up to anything I'd want to see again.
The script itself is the biggest problem. At what point does "an homage to 80's slasher movies" get renamed "a rip-off of 80's movies that were already bad when they were new"? This movie does nothing new with the slasher concept and if I'd seen as many 80's slashers as the creators, I'd probably be able to tell you exactly where they got the "inspiration" for every single one of the death scenes. The second problem is that Teddy himself isn't scary at all. He's not at all imposing and you half expect the characters to laugh when they each face him for the first time. The third problem is the same problem you have with all low budget features: the acting. Kirk Gilbert and Mike Goltz do a great job with Jeff and Clay, respectively. Nikita Vora turns in an adequate performance until she's required to scream. Keegan Bergen's directions seem to consist of "stand there menacingly" and he gets the first part of it right. As for Kevin Sommerfield and Dana Terpinas, you can't wait for their characters to die so you don't have to suffer through any more of their "acting".
It's not all bad here, though. As I said above, the Jeff and Clay characters are played to perfection. The cinematography is also very well done, much better than what I expected for a low budget short. The director does what he can with what he has, but it doesn't add up to anything I'd want to see again.
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