THRILLER SHORT FILMS - 3
Four more of the best thriller short films from around the world.
Mis-drop by Ferend Peek (2013) (New Zealand) (14m)
The brilliant sci-fi short film Mis-drop by Ferend Peek was a finalist in the 7th FILMSshort competition. Set some 300 years in the future, It is mainly told with one shot, which shows a new recruit taking part in his first "drop". His team are dropping from a spaceship onto an alien world they are colonising and mining. It is being watched back by a forensic accountant, who has to decide whether what went wrong was the fault of the rookie or not.
Voice Over by Martin Rosete (2011) (Spain) (11m)
Written by Luiso Berdejo (REC, Violet) and directed by Martin Rosete, Voice Over is a visually stunning short film from Spain, which appears to have had a budget to die for. It presents three different extreme situations, where the voiceover is actually very similar, with a man having only a few minutes to live unless he achieves something. It could be read as a postmodern take on the sameness and forced drama of Hollywood movies or simply a fun exploration of an idea. Though made by Spaniards, the language is French..)
Checkpoint by Ben Phelps (2006) (Australia) (11m) 
I make no apology for using Checkpoint on several different pages. Written and directed by Ben Phelps, Checkpoint makes use of the vastness of the Australian outback. A husband and wife are driving along a deserted road with their teenage daughter when they are stopped by three soldiers. They have entered a restricted zone and the soldiers - threatening and racist - are unwilling to let them turn around. As with thrillers such as The Hills Have Eyes the seclusion is part of the problem.
Cadence by Alexander Lasheras (2014) (USA) (20m)
Written and directed by American filmmaker Alexander Lasheras, Cadence is a psychological thriller about a young woman whose grip on reality begins to loosen when her boyfriend’s drunken bandmates turn up at the isolated family farm where she and her boyfriend were having an intimate vacation. It is hard for the audience to know what is real and what she is imagining as the film uses various tropes from the supernatural and horror genre.
