Director – Emir Skolonja (Jericho, Savage)
Starring – Krystal Shenk and Jacob Hodgson
Release Date – 2018
Rating – 3.5/5
I’m always open to review short. Shorts can be a lot of fun if you give them a chance. Hell, essentially that is what an anthology film is. Most reviewers I know skip on the shorts and miss a lot of quality shorts. A week or so ago Emir Skolonja hit me up with his new short Till Death Do We Rot. I had seen some of the behind the scenes photos he shared on Facebook. I was excited and I’m glad I checked it out. It was a great short that has visual style and was entertaining. Thanks for sending it over Emir.
**Spoiler Alert**The short follows a married couple. The devoted wife tries to make their marriage work even after her beloved husband falls prey to a zombie outbreak. Now he craves her brains instead of her heart.**Spoiler Alert**
I honestly didn’t know what to expect what from this short. The images I saw online reminded me a lot of those Americana movies from the 90s that tries to capture that Cold War Era America. I actually like that time frame which is why that was a major role in my history major in college. That same Americana look and style is one of the reasons I really like the Fallout game series and most of the films from John Waters. Anyway, Emir does a great job capturing that look without a budget.
The acting in this one is solid. Krystal Shenk and Jacob Hodgson work great together. Hodgson’s performance is fairly minimal considering he has to pretend to be a zombie the entire time but Krystal’s performance was a little more dynamic. She had to be a loving wife who cared for her husband who can not, she then went through a small sexy scene where she wanted to satisfy him, before finding herself in shear fear.
The story for this one is fun and worked very well for a short. The film is predictable but it was evident that Emir was going for style over originality which worked in the end. Also, the film was able to work up a few shocks which I was not expecting.
Finally, the film does have some gore that looks great along. The effects for the gags is spot on and works very well for the film. My only complaint is the prosthetics on Hodges face. I think they were going for the skin falling off look but it just didn’t work that well. Overall, Till Death Do We Rot is a great short. The film is visually pleasing and I really enjoyed the color pallet they went with. Check out the gory fun!
