I’ve spoken at great length before about my hatred for zombies. I’ve long maintained that nobody is bringing anything new to the table and 90% of the stories could all take place in the same universe without having to overtly explain it.
Then I watched Little Reaper.
This is the first of two short films I’m reviewing from Dream Seekers Productions and it was a blast to watch.
It tells the story of Athena Baumeister who plays the obnoxious daughter of a Grim Reaper. In an effort to prove to her dad that she is capable of responsibility she is given the reigns as Reaper for a day and fails beautifully.
The short runs at a little more than 10 minutes and was an enjoyable watch. The makeup and fx were both done really well and I never found myself laughing when I shouldn’t be. The script is well written and the actors possess the timing necessary to ensure that it works.
You can watch it here
The Beast
The Beast is a horror short starring Bill Oberst Jr.
This one is a complete change in style and tone from Little Reaper. It uses a minimalist score and a very dark setting to tell its tale.
The Beats opens and closes strong but I did feel that it dragged a little in the middle. It seemed more like a scene taken out of a movie than a short film set in its own world but it remains effective in what it does. Scripting is again a strength in this one and it just enforces what I love most about the independent horror community: strong stories before unnecessary special effects.
I’d recommend that you give both of these shorts a watch and also keep an eye out for new things from Dream Seekers Productions. If these two are any indication of what they’re capable of then they are going to be making fun, well written movies for a long time.
As an aside, I’d also like to apologize to the good people at Dream Seekers Productions, they requested that I watch/review these shorts around two months ago. I took some time away from the website around then but I didn’t communicate it well to them and left them waiting. It was unprofessional of me and I do regret the way I handled the situation.