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★★★
Directed by: #JulieRobinson
Starring: #RhonaMackay, #LaraMcbride, #SerenaDoran, #AlanSymington, #GaryFyfe, and #JamesKerr
Women...when will we learn not to trust men? Oh no wait, we did after years of male oppression and a bunch of serial killers in the 70’s took their mommy rage out on our female gender time and time again, well most of us did.
But sometimes, we dames like to go in to the woods, make a campfire and chow down on a bunch of hot dogs, because you know we love them wieners, and while that seems like a nice girls night out, there is always going to be some guy who wants to get in on our sausage action.
So welcome to the stage Julie Robinson’s #horror short Were, a tale of women spending some time alone in the wild, not fearing the serial killers of the 70’s or food poisoning from ingesting undercooked meats...silly ladies. And of course it’s not long before a flannel wearing dude [he’s in the woods, he could just be a lumberjack] decided to get in on these lady's sausage action.
He’s creepy, but most men who slink out of a bunch of shrubs are, he sniffs their bag of burgers [I would leave at that point, no meat sniffing man is gonna murder me], he makes awkward conversation about werewolves, straight up this guy is a party-pooper, and the ladies make it very obvious that he is not welcome.
Despite the clear indication that these gals don’t want him there, he continues on with his random conversations, enraging them further and further, I don’t know why they are surprised, men are not the best on picking up signals...so what do you do? Transform into a wolf and kill him of course.
Yes this is a classic case of the old switcheroo in the horror genre, just when the audience is comfortable with the path the story is taking, it's turned on its head, making the loving neighbour, the step dad, the trusted Jehovah Witness on your doorstep, the one you should fear.
And despite this being done to death in cinema it still packs a punch, director and writer Julie Robinson invests so much into making the male role so unappealing and unnerving, that you don’t really see it coming, you're too focused on this creep who is eyeing up hot dogs like his life depends on them, a clever move to bring new life to a classic horror trick...oh Julie you’re so sneaky.
Each of the actors within this #shortfilm embody their roles fully, making for believable and engrossing performances, an important element to any horror flick, at the end of the day you’re dealing with unbelievable circumstances, so your leading roles need to be on point if the film is going to have any success.
One of the factors of this short I enjoyed was the lighting aesthetic, there is a beautiful contrast between the calm blue lighting of the forest backdrop, in contrast to the harsh reds and yellows of the flames illuminating our characters, a reminder that maybe the safest place is not where you think it is, maybe the forest is the better option. I mean if history has taught men anything, women in a group around a fire means they are probably witches.
So what have we learned loyal readers? If you want to pick up chicks don’t hide in a bunch of shrubs and sniff bags of meat, and no matter what your gender you can’t trust anyone alone in the forest...well maybe tree surgeons, and a good girls night out involves a hot dog and a murder...classic weekend activities.
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