FILM INFO: An angry teenager commits a series of horrific murders, unaware that he is being tracked by a family who takes a special interest in serial killers.
WRITTEN BY: Shiva Rodriguez, D Duckie Rodriguez DIRECTED BY: Shiva Rodriguez GENRE: Horror TIME: 16 minutes.
For the majority of people, murder is a scary thing. What could be worse? You're dead. However, the thought of being captured and helpless, totally at the mercy of someone else who happens to be a murderer, is far worse. Knowing that should this person decide to hurt you or end your life, they have no problems doing so, and probably will... that's the closest to hell on earth I can think of. It's also the stuff good thrillers and horror films thrive on. Tapping into that fear all of us have. Our need to continue on. Since the start of time, the educated and slightly off-kilter people of the world have tried to understand what drives people to commit such acts. Or, more to the point, the stress a person must endure before finally making the decision to kill. If any stress is needed at all. Are some just hard-wired to want to inflict pain and suffering? How much does "notoriety" play a role within the budding mind of a serial killer? At first, "Coming Home" plays like a standard horror film revolving around a new murderer, and the people tracking him. We all know the type of movie. Bad guy Vs good guy. Bad guy kills, and the film attempts to really make you hate them, bringing that much more pleasure once he's finally caught. Good guy(s) tracks the killer(s), always a seeming step behind until the final climax. Of course, the good movies make you understand and sometimes even -gasp- relate or empathize with the killer. This isn't a required element in horror films however, we just want to see a good showdown. The main difference with "Coming Home" is with the hunters themselves. This man, err, family isn't hunting this films leading baddie for the reasons you may think. Something far more sinister is going on. Writers Shiva and D. Duckie Rodriguez make damn sure we realize things are not on the up-and-up. In all honesty? A real twist on the genre manages to infuse itself into this title, and it's always nice to see a fresh take on an old premise. What's even nicer is the potential these characters have to do some real emotional damage down the road, within the planned feature length film that continues this story. If and when such a film materializes, it could be something really special. In a dark and dirty kind of way. The production work, pre to post, is really a mixed bag. On one hand we have some excellent cinematography and audio recordings. Shots are nicely framed and the lighting seems perfect. I realize a lot of these shots make excellent use of natural light, but that only reflects better on the cinematographer. Some of the editing itself is where things feel a little awkward at times. Not always. For the most part the edit does an excellent job keeping the pace moving along quickly and steadily. Other times however, just feel... unusual. One example would be a strange, super fast cut of a young victim being stabbed. This particular edit stood out like a sore thumb. A better bet, in my humble opinion, would have been to simply remain on the "person doing the stabbing" and not use a super fast reaction cut of the girl. Sometimes, you just got to go with the flow - and this lightning fast cut simply didn't work for me. A few instances such as this exist within the movie, but in reality, too few to make it a real huge deal. My other main concern is with some of the acting. Or, maybe it's not the acting at all... rather some of the dialog writing. I only bring this up because in many scenes the characters in this film come across damn near perfect. In other, less frequent scenes, the cast feel wooden. Yet it's all in what they are saying, not so much how they are saying it. "Coming Home" features a lot of "robotic" dialog. Unusually long sentences and a slight lack of contractions make for some weird sounding lines at times. Us humans use contractions a lot. We also tend to keep our dialog as short as needed when talking with each other. Especially if we know that person. Having constant full sentences with little use of contractions feels weird. As does repeated use of a persons first name when talking with them. With that said however, the overall acting, minus a few long sounding lines, was spot on. I especially loved the way our "baddie" was portrayed - as well as a certain "son" within a family. Completely Creepy Mc Creeperson. Nice job. As a full film, "Coming Home" manages to get it's point across in a decent, entertaining way. It's a fresh take on so many movies we've all seen in the past... and that "freshness" was welcomed in a huge way. The real kicker here? This is the set-up to a larger production and it does it's job perfectly. I personally look forward to seeing the bigger story unravel. I can't wait actually. Director Shiva Rodriguez sets out to entertain... and entertained I was. "Coming Home" could be the start of an exceptional story. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.
