directed by:
Laurence Roberts written by: Laurence Roberts genre: Horror |
Shift happens! You read that correctly. At least in this particular context, where the world we once knew has basically all but gone away. We meet a couple of travellers who have already survived “the shift,” and now they’re attempting to navigate a practically abandoned planet where it seems like they might just be the last people left on it. Admittedly, they don’t look too worse for the wear when we first meet them – their clothes are remarkably clean for a society that doesn’t even look like it could run a washing machine anymore, but I suppose we can assume they’ve also got the ability to pick their outfits straight off the rack from all the department stores that are no longer functional. The pair, Conor and Taryn, are in much more trouble than merely being the last folks on the planet – in their desperate search for some stable shelter, they end up in an old research facility, which quickly proves to be way more dangerous than merely being alone. In fact, they really might not be alone at all…and that’s definitely concerning.
So! Let’s get down to brass tacks here. There are some really great things about “Shelter,” which is written & directed by Laurence Ted Roberts, and there are definitely some things that probably needed a bit more development as well. Right off the bat, as a dude that absolutely LOVES anything that is post-apocalyptic, “Shelter” had me immediately interested. Much to Laurence’s credit, that’s largely because the tone, mood, and atmosphere of this film are all completely spot-on. You feel the desolation, the isolation, and the fear of the unknown as you watch Conor and Taryn try to make some kind of sense of their surroundings - and figure out if they’re actually in a safe place, or not. I love the look of the whole film; it’s dusty, it’s dangerous, and it seems like things could get dramatically worse at any given moment. Taryn, in particular, seems a little sweaty, like she might have some kind of brewing illness happening in her character’s background. It’s not something that gets addressed too specifically, but you can see that something isn’t quite right with her. Lack of food, water, and proper “Shelter” is likely to take its toll on anyone, I suppose, but I like that we can visually see that she is struggling…it adds another implied layer of depth to the increasingly impossible odds of their survival. Conor is aware that she’s not in any condition to keep moving for the moment, so they decide to hole up in this skeletal building that basically looks like the unfinished basement of your old childhood home. I also thought the acting was pretty solid between the two, who are in every scene that you’ll see. Conor (Sameer Jawar) and Taryn (Madison Angus) do a highly commendable job with the script they’ve been given, and for the most part, I felt like they delivered the material competently. I mean, they must have – I think everyone who would watch “Shelter” likely forms a quick bond with the pair and hopes that things somehow work for the best, even though the ominous tone of this short film certainly suggests that things probably won’t. Madison’s wide eyes of concern are an asset to this film, just as much as the steady, calm & strong presence of Sameer makes for a great counterweight to her growing-but-justified hysteria. I think post-apocalyptic stuff is always neat, because quite often you see how our awareness as human beings changes so brutally. No longer the apex predator at the top of the food chain, we’re bound to be extra cautious and scared by any noises we didn’t make ourselves. And how noticeable would those be, right? You’re the only ones around for miles…believe me, you’d hear a twig on a tree snap from fifty miles away if we didn’t have all these machines and cars making the noise that they do. Like I was saying, for the most part, everything I wanna see in a short post-apocalyptic film is intact here, but that’s not to say that I didn’t have some concerns along the way as well. There’s always a bit of an unspoken compromise that we make with lower-budget movies and films, where we have to adjust our suspension of disbelief to suit what can be achieved within the means of the production.
In the case of “Shelter,” you can see there’s a little bit of ‘take what you can get’ when it comes to the main location that they’re filming in, which looks way more like a half-finished housing project than it does an old abandoned research lab. There are all these files that they find in & out of boxes all across the dirt floor – and you kind of have to ask yourself, what kind of former research facility has dirt floors at all, right? There’s no gyprock or finished walls – I mean, it looks like a freakin’ prison from the days of the Spanish Inquisition! No evidence of electricity or the kinds of machines you’d expect to find in what used to be a lab. I get it – we’re supposed to somewhat believe that this decrepit building has been picked apart by scavengers & such, but to think they left all that nice wood framing intact and took all the fax machines instead seems like it’s still a bit of a stretch. There’s absolutely nothing of value in this building, and that certainly includes any of the technology or even the white countertops you’d expect to see in an old lab. As we get into the nittier and grittier parts of the storyline, I really liked how we visually see such an instant change in Conor’s character as things start to go south for the pair during their stay. As for the scenes that immediately followed…I dunno…I was less sure about whether or not those landed with the impact they were intended to make. Minor spoilers ahead - for what I assume we’re supposed to fear, being some kind of demonic power or possession type scenario, to see it basically resolved with a tiny slash from a butter knife felt like it was a bridge too far. And yes, I know it’s not exactly a butter knife, but the point remains the same – at the precise moment we’re really supposed to be the most terrified, Laurence chose to wrap things up almost too neatly, and you feel the imbalance of the story during that moment. Even when we see Conor’s wound not too long afterwards, like…I’m not gonna say it’s no big deal, because the dude IS bleeding & I’m sure it hurts a bit – but a three or four inch gash was able to defeat whatever it was that got hold of him? As far as the presence of evil that we see towards the end, watching it spread out across the floor is totally one of my favourite moments in this film, & I don’t think that could have been done any better – it looks amazing and it’s genuinely scary. I think the biggest questions about “Shelter” all revolve around whether or not the audience watching will feel like they got enough from the very end…that’s going to be what measures the overall success of a film like this. To me, it felt like “Shelter” was just about to start by the time that it ended, almost like this was an intro or a pilot to what could certainly go on to be more than what we see here. As to whether or not that’s Laurence’s intentions, I don’t know…but I did feel like we needed a lot more to this story, not just a little bit. I know, I know – it’s a short film, and those are practically never long enough for those of us that really like their characters and stories, but trust me when I tell ya, I’ve watched a lot of short films and “Shelter” definitely felt like it was among the shortest of the short - and had plenty of opportunity to expand along the way so that it might not have felt so rushed as it moved to wrap things up by the end. Might just be the way I see it – as always, you be the judge. As it stands, I feel like I can give “Shelter” three stars out of five. For some, that might be a bit on the generous side, but I did enjoy the main ideas and what we got to see in this film, even if it still had me wanting a whole lot more. |
|
|
More To Check Out.
|
