The Final Boy ★★★☆☆

Review of 'The Final Boy' which can be found here at Daily Motion.

Length: 02:24

Written by Matthew White & directed by Nick Gillespie

Genre: Horror

Date: 2008

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: A man is haunted by a little schoolboy.

Nothing like a little child murder to brighten up your day and this short certainly has some potential but it gets somewhat muddled along the way. The main stumbling block is the confused plot which will force the audience to deviate away from the horror and into asking many questions which remain unanswered or unclear.

Steve Garry plays John, a guy at the end of his tether. Well most folk probably would be too, if they had a small child stalking them. What's hard to decipher, isn't so much the why, but the question about what's really happening in the last scene. Shots and edits are kept fast, blurred or extremely hard to make out. These may have been purposeful decisions but it will leave you confused. Is that another dead body in the living room already? Has John just murdered his son? Who's that in the crumpled up photograph and more importantly who is in the preceding out of focused shot? All these questions could add up to an unsatisfied audience and the title doesn't help clear any this up either.

There are some nice shots in amongst the madness showing clear horror genre influences. Lauren Pressdee as John's boss is a treat and almost as sinister as the demon boy. The first supposed scare comes in at midpoint and uses the classic 'don't look behind you' shot coupled with shock music. Unfortunately, it is left feeling slightly wet as (depending on your constitution) little boys really aren't that scary. Luckily, the later through the letterbox shot makes up for this as tension has thoughtfully been upped using the SFX on the boys face. A possible restructure might see that shot coming in a little earlier though.

Sound is a bit tinny during early scenes but comes into its own further in with the addition of a spooky soundtrack and an assortment of meaty sound effects. The pacing is fine but I feel that the film deserved a little more length not only to fill in some of the blanks, but to heighten the scares and provide a more fulfilling conclusion.

Best Bit: The first thwack of the club against that cute little lads head.

Worst Bit: The underwhelming first scare.

Final thought: So many questions.

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.