The Dark Web

directed by:
Chris Carter
written by:
Chris Carter
genre:
Drama

A black market for organs has always been around. Depending on where you live, transplants can be incredibly expensive - but that's not the true reason people turn to the criminal element for such things. It's the wait time. People literally wait and wait and never receive their organs. They die waiting. Honestly? If I needed a new heart, and knew I probably wouldn't live long enough to get one - I would probably be looking at the black market as well. Morally, I can write no way. I know where these illegal organs probably come from. But faced with the idea of death? That changes things. A lot. It's easy to preach morality until you realize it's you on the chopping block.
This is where "The Dark Web" comes into play. Writer, director Chris Carter has produced a quick tale revolving around a woman in need of a heart - using the dark side of the internet to get it. That's not entirely true, the woman herself uses a middleman... err... middle-woman, who recommends the dark web to find one. Us viewers are then treated to the story of this particular heart. How it was obtained. This all happens very quickly - in a very gritty and real-ish way. This is all very ambitious for a low/no budget film - even more when you consider it's under ten minutes. How does it fare you ask? "The Dark Web" isn't perfect, but it gets the point across decently enough. More on that below.

The actual story/dialog of this film is minimal. I've essentially summed up the plot above, and Chris Carter and his troupe visually push home the rest. It's hit and miss, and very evident that although quite talented, Carter still needs to gain some valuable experience. Nobody starts off perfectly... and only doing builds the practical experience needed. With that said, there's a mood contained in this film that easily allowed me to follow along. A sense of sad dread - is the only way I can think to put it. Getting a film to cause an emotion, any emotion to emerge is tough. Seasoned filmmakers struggle to do it - so I was really impressed I had one watching this film. Nice job.
The technical hold-backs mainly involved the cuts and transitions. Strange wipes and dissolves - when a simple straight up cut would have been great. I see this a lot with new(er) filmmakers. Sometimes simple is the best way to go, and I offer this ballpark guide as a good read. It may be a little older, but explains transitions quite well. Click here for article. Other than that, I found I had to keep my fingers on the volume button. Dialog was really quiet but all the sound effects and music were super loud. I did love how the actual heart extraction was handled, reminding me how resourceful indie filmmakers can be.
When it's all said and done - I have no problem writing I enjoyed this flick. It may not win any Oscars - but so what! Carter and his crew set out to tell a dark and quick story. Guess what? They succeeded. I had no problem following along and at the end of the day? I had no problem watching straight through to the credits. Well done. A solid two and a half stars.