From the same stable as the 60 Seconds to Die films and I called the first one of those “an absolute smorgasbord of quality.” Going on to suggest that, “The art of the short is not easy, to be able to cram an interesting story within a tiny timeframe, to offer narrative, plot, character and twist against the clock (and do so with filmmaking panache) is difficult in the extreme. To cut this time down to 60 seconds increases that challenge, making the short absolutely reliant on trope, stereotype and often cliché.” This all stands for this film too, but there are four films within that grab our attention – two definitely vampire films, two perhaps…
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| the reveal |
In Savior, a woman (Christina Raney) gets out of her car, which has broken down. She spots a group of zombies chowing on a victim and runs – they see her and follow. She falls and a man (Moses Weathers) comes to her rescue, He kicks the zombies’ asses and she goes to him, her saviour. His fangs then show that he is no saviour – it is to the point but works well enough.
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| Brandy Brown as a vampire |
In Raising Stakes we begin with a churchyard and then two men (the older Bill Mulligan and the younger Justin Cole) enter a crypt and open the coffin of a 300-year-old vampire (Brandy Brown). The older, the hunter, tells the younger, the assistant, to hold the stake over her chest but he complains. He is always the one holding the stake… the hunter agrees and offers the assistant a turn with the mallet but the vampire is no longer in her coffin… The banter between the two men worked well in this, making it a better moment in the overall film.
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| vampiric infant |
Comfort Him was one that uses tropes, at least. A father (Hasse Brontén) can hear his baby on a monitor. He goes and picks the child up and hears his wife (Sofie Klaesson) come home and say *they* are back… They? She is carrying the baby and, as he looks down, the infant he holds develops sharp teeth and bites his neck. The bite and cgi blood are some of the worst I have seen and I get they probably didn’t want to use practical effects round the baby but even so.
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| fangs and a grin |
Finally there is Dark Metamorphosis where a fanged man (David Black) lurks around a tree where a woman in white, Shekhinah (Simay Argento), dances. He gives her an orb and it is clear that he seduces her, she vanishes round the tree and, when she reappears, suddenly has black hair and black clothing. That’s all there is to it and the man looked like a vampire but he is credited as Lucifer and so may have been a devil.
And that, as they say, is that – four fleeting visitations. Two definitely vampires, two maybe. The imdb page is here.
On Demand @ Amazon US
On Demand @ Amazon UK
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