It’s hard to get a lot of content out of three minutes and thirty seconds. Making a short film is just as difficult as critiquing a short film because the margin of error is so high. When it comes to J Budro Partida’s Hi, Penny, though, I walked away from my viewing with a lot of positive things to say. The new short film presented by Pennyrock Productions makes things very clear – J Budro Partida is a talented film-maker, and I think he has what it takes to progress to feature length films and an award winning resume. He has an eye for the camera, and an intuition that’s hard to come by; resulting in a short film that’s top notch from start to finish. And who doesn’t like a good ghost flick? Based on the screenplay Budro wrote with Monica Partida, Hi, Penny follows a very young horror lover while she watches Night of the Living Dead very late in the evening. Her movie time is ruined when strange occurrences begin shattering the calm in the vacant second story of her family home. Only after the little girl goes upstairs to investigate does she discover she’s not alone in the house. Someone or something wants to play. A creepy, simple and effective short film, Hi, Penny stars Penelope Joy, Patrick Gunnar Miles and Monica Partida.
What’s so amazing about Hi, Penny is that it’s eerie and ominous while also being completely endearing to us as horror fans. I mean, we’ve all been there, right? Kids, staying up well past bed time to watch scary movies on television; only to have our imaginations run wild and deliver us wit fresh nightmares when we finally give up and go to bed. Although, in this film’s case, the answer is definitely more concrete. Director and editor J Budro Partida’s key decision making skills is also what helped Hi, Penny become so successful. The run time and audio quality are perfect. The camera work is good, and impressive during the dark sequence upstairs. And the casting was genius and fit so well with the story, especially when considering 2/3 of the cast is comprised of child actors. It can be a daunting task to direct the little ones, but allowing Penelope Joy to move around and react more than memorize and recite dialogue helped this film avoid any performance pitfalls. The whole thing is fault free, honestly. This new title from Pennyrock Productions is hitting the film festival circuit. I encourage you to stop by a screening and say, “Hi, Penny!”
Suspenseful, Spooky and Captivating, Hi, Penny‘s a hit! Final Score: 8 out of 10.
Watch below!
