Alright, here is an independent short that I agreed to review, because the website and trailer to this film looked very dam good. There is a problem however with this short and I’ll get to that in a minute, but dam do we have ourselves one hell of a feature film coming to us.
Here’s the scenario; The Institution plays out like a video synopsis. It’s pretty much a long trailer that I saw as a tool the filmmaker can use to get money from investors to make a feature length film. Now by reading filmmaking books and having a degree in television, radio and film, I know that it’s recommended by a lot of teachers, and filmmakers not to waste your time and money producing a trailer to pitch to film studios or investors. Renee Harmon talks about this in her book, The Beginning Filmmaker’s Guide to Directing. But that’s besides the point, here we have a very well produced short film that in a sense is a teaser scene as to what is to come from the producers of this film.
What I liked about the overall production of this project is the fact that the producers took no short cuts when it came to effects, locations, actors, and the overall production value of the film. I’ll go on record as saying that The Institution is one of the best produced short films I’ve seen. The location is dry and spooky, you get that feeling that their is something not right about the place. Second, the make-up effects in the movie were top notch, something I never expected to see in a short film. The killers costume looks awesome, kind of reminded me of button face from Clive Barker’s Night Breed. The acting was pretty dam good for a bunch of no name actors. When you put all that into perspective, this short film is very well produced.
Now comes the problems, and here’s where I honestly felt cheated by the film, but not in a bad way. It ended to abruptly. I honestly wanted more, and I felt cheated by how it ended. I was like oh man! What a dick tease. The film is so good, and I give the filmmakers so much credit for the great job they did, I won’t take that away from them. But the film ended like a Television show, You’ll have to wait until next week to see what happens. In this case however we have to wait until the feature film is finished, which as far as I know is going into production soon. The title of the film will be “The Assignment” which as we find out in the short film is the only reason the college students in the film venture into such a dismal place.
I rarely get behind a film before it’s made, however I have to ask that all my readers visit the website to this film and encourage the filmmakers to get going on making “The Assignment”. It looks to be a film that won’t disappoint, and might just be the next best horror film to come out of the indie horror scene. When you go to the website and view the clips and trailers for The Institution you’ll see that the producers know the importance of production value and obviously have what it takes to truly be called filmmakers. Let’s hope that this project can get off the ground, I for one can’t wait.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
