Beware of Luna! This short film is about a young boy, whom is being haunted while his family grieves over a recent death in the family. This is one very smart short film and takes you on an emotional ride on wondering what is going to happen next. This film deceives the viewer so much so that they want to keep interacting and over analyzing things before they happen. Most audiences today can pick up what the stories about in the first few minutes of the film; however, when it comes to the context of a story or its ending, most are blind to it. In the first few frames of this film, you get a sense of what is to come. Setting the stage is key in every film. If you don't set the stage for your audience properly, they will be disinterested and you lost them forever. For example, this film opens with a grieving mother, whom most audience can relate to, morning a death of someone near and dear to her. Her husband is consulting her to the best of his abilities. We later get context clues on whom she is grieving about; however, I won't spoiler it for the audiences whom wants to check this film out. When your contexts is lost to the viewer, you may lose them forever. This film doesn't lose that context nor gives the ending away entirely. Later in this short, you are able figure out the ending by one scene in the way it is acted, shot and staged to figure out what the director wanted the end payoff to be. The very nuances of this film is very deliberate and sudden that you may miss them on the first go around. These nuances and context clues helps to drive the story and provide a great, horrified and strategic payoff in the end. On the other hand, one thing that will make or break a short film is the acting we are witnessing throughout the duration of said film. Acting in an independent film is so key nowadays that most audience members can spot unbelievable acting that normally turns them off from your story and give no care in the world for. This short has some great acting in there; however, one key scene really didn't show good acting chops. There is a scene where the dad, played by Kirk McKenzie, is talking with his son, play by Harlan Cox, about having to endure what’s going on because it is affecting him as well. It seemed like the director and actor wanted to give the dad character a little more of an emotional element to this scene with his son; however, we only get a one sided emotional scene in the likes of his son. The dad character seems a bit indifferent talking to his son. Kirk does give a nice performance overall; however, this one scene feels flat, bare and emotionless when it comes to the concerned son. Harlan Cox and Zoe Williams, whom plays Luna, are great throughout. We get to see the emotional toll that plagues both parties. Even their mother, whom is played by Twanissa Cox, gives us a reliable performance for the scenes she is in. With a passing family member, we could have seen a little more rational acting for the source material. Harlan's character seems to be hit hard right from the beginning. Cold, dispassionate and impassive seems to shape his character when we first see him as he watches his parents go through such lost. Meanwhile, he seems to still be haunted by something that frightens him throughout this short. As the film moves forward, Harlan transforms into a brave figure towards the end. He finally say's enough is enough and stands his ground. On the other-hand, one performance that needs to be talked about is how Zoe Williams captures the eeriness and movement of her character. Her character reminds me of something right out of a Hollywood classic horror film and the movements she choose. She really gives new meaning to the word "Creepy". Twanissa Cox is such a wonderful addition to this film. She gives the mom character her all like she has been playing that role her whole life. With only a few scenes, I would have love to see more with her as she goes through this lost that gives her a heavy heart. One key scene I would have loved to see was a scene with "Boy" Harlan's character and hers. The audience would get a better sense of sentimental value with these two character mingling on screen. This short film has some great award attached to it and one in which stands out is from the Oregon Scream festival for Best Cinematography. Luna is shot and edited phenomenally. From the opening scene to the last, it gives you great framing, pacing and blocking to make this feel nightmarish and scary. The pacing of scenes moves smoothly that you sometimes miss what is in the frame of said scene itself. For instance, in the beginning of this short, Boy (Harlan) sits with his Dad (Kirk) and Mom (Twanissa) while grieving gets jolted by a haunted figured. Running away from it to go play outside, Boy takes his toy with him to avoid the situation at hand even though he wanted to play outside to begin with. The smallest and tiniest details in a smooth pacing moves helps progress the story. Most films of this length find it hard to capture the horror, suspense and eeriness of the source material; however, this short lands on that mark. Ross and the creative team behind paint the frame similar to that of James Wu of the Conjuring fame in a way they want you to see everything they want you to see and make an illusion of what your fears are. While the audience watches this, it feels like you don't know what’s going to happen next and once it happens, it's too late. The conclusion of this film is genus; but, a total red herring to the viewing audience. We all thought that the conclusion, be that of it may, needed more work to it versus the rest of the film. We totally understand the direction of what the director and team wanted; however, there is no payoff to the eeriness you have built up throughout. The twist does work for the contexts you [Screenwriter] gave and brought the clues to light; unfortunately, some viewers won't understand the ending fully. The ending itself, is a great creative way of giving the audience a good sendoff; however, if there was a little more it would help do it justice. In Conclusion All in all this works on a few different ways, from believable acting to the eeriness of this film settings and in the source material for what the director wanted to show to their audience. Ross Williams and his team shows lots of homage to horror films that have come before it and gives his own taste of horror and suspense when you watch this film. Even though this short is about ten (10) minutes in length, it really tells a story of grief and how one takes grief. Everyone in this short takes grief a little differently and shows their side of emotion. The director wanted to show you the many stages of grief from the Mom to the Boy character. He really puts in context that life, being precious, can be taken away in any moment. Ross [Williams] does great work with the many elements of a horror/suspenseful film, from light and sound to the story structure that he might missed the mark at the end. We [audience] totally understand what happens at the end; however, the twist doesn't work as well as the rest of the film. This short is beautifully shot, paced and edited that we are surprised this hasn't won many more awards due to its crisp and professional oura onto it. Others shorts films on this caliber don't compare due to their lackluster quality and low light figures. If there was some more to this film, it would have been a more impact of a twist and not shoehorned in. We at Next Dimension Productions recommend giving this a view on your own. It really brings out some great horror/suspenseful memories that you can compare to some Hollywood and other Independent films of today and yesteryear. The Indie Film Corner Ratings: 3 out of 5 stars Ross Williams Bio: XRATS Productions was founded in Seattle, WA in 2002 by filmmaker Ross Williams when he wrote & directed his first short film eRATicate. Over the next five years, Ross produced a variety of personal film projects, including Music Videos, Commercials, and Short Films, culminating in 2007 with his personal feature-length documentary The Turning Point. In the years following, Ross moved with his family to Ashland, OR. His wife Kristan worked a full-time job, while Ross was a stay-at-home dad. During those years Ross began to take on work as a freelance editor and cameraman, further honing his craft. XRATS took on a large variety of new clients and continued to produce original video projects of all kinds. XRATS Productions is now a full-time & full-service video production company based in Talent, Oregon. Working on a large variety of business and personal video projects around Southern Oregon and Northern California. Ross Williams interview about his influences in the film world and this film as well: https://darkbites.ca/a-conversation-with-short-filmmaker-ross-williams/ IMDB Website: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9414594/?ref_=rvi_tt Other Reviews of this film: https://nevermore-horror.com/luna-short-film-review/ https://horrorbuzz.com/2019/11/04/luna-the-ghost-of-mid-2000s-horror-cliches-review/ Luna Teaser & short below (Released on October 25th, 2019)
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During a few talks with independent companies and people, we have received a few emails about reviewing independent, short or long, films. We have created the Independent Corner for all things Independent!!! These film review may have the same format, but will be a different feel then the Hollywood treatment of our main Film Corner reviews. Please bear with us in constructing this new page. Archives
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