The Reckoning, Phoenix and Hellion
The Reckoning:
The Reckoning had a pretty good start, took our time to introduce some strongly illustrated characters. Their very presence said everything we needed to know about their temperament, their style, their over all purpose in the film. Once the ball got rolling, things became a bit poppy, and well, it is of my opinion that the greatest fault of this film was, like Phoenix, its short duration. With more time and investment in story, The Reckoning could have come up quite high , both in character development as well as suitable, well played story line, ending in an event that both boggles and thrills. What is remarkable, however, is the quality that it was shot in. Were talking top grade television to holly wood quality in the production. Excellent use of camera and sound, and well crafted atmospheres that made everything quite easy to take in.
Phoenix:
Phoenix was, with out doubt, the highest rated of the 3. Its of good television quality (think Sci-fi channel), and possesses an interesting tale of a man who is set upon with drug experimentation, so as to travel back in time through the strain of his genes, and witness the history viewed by his ancestors. Victim to a freak accident as a result of his treatments, our main character finds himself a most incredibly seeded asset for “the client”, as it is called, that seeks to bring an ultimate outcome from his testing.
While phoenix is not necessarily the best short film I have seen (mostly do to its too short for comfort duration), it achieves its goal of good science fiction story telling quite well.
Hellion:
This was rather interesting, actually. The setting, quite good. A fine, fundamental mood of blank, rural desert, empty and bleak, blotched only by the progress of a single black object. A small person, rapped in black. Lasting only a few minutes, the powers of an unyielding darkness make claim on, what some would call, the ultimate prize. What I liked most about this film was the camera work and the perfect duration. It had no demand to be any longer, and was treated as short in the purest of sense. Self-illustrative and made with attention lighting and detail.
Home.
The Eldritch Gazette, May, 2006