Indie Short Review: 2 Hours

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2013
Free link to view complete film below review
Images from the Internet

 

2 Hours
Directed, shot and cut by Michael Ballif                                      
26 minutes, 2012             
2hoursthemovie.com

Apparently, from the time one is bitten by a zombie, it takes two hours for the virus to course through the victims system until succumbing and then becoming one. This is the premise of this totally serious zombie genre short that is nothing short of beautifully done.

While feeling guilty about the death of his girlfriend (Brooke Hemsath, who recurs in guilt- and feverish-flashback fashion) the Survivor (Josh Merrill, who also wrote the piece) goes through forests and ruined cities hoping to find a group of other survivors before becoming zombie feeder fodder. Problem is, he has been bit, and has just two hours to find the group and hope they have a cure.

There are some interesting dual aspects to this film. One is that the zombies are both slow and fast. They stumble around looking for victims, but when one is spotted, man, can they run. They’re a bit clumsy on their feet, but they will run you down.

Another duality is the fluidity of that sometimes the film is seamlessly shot as third person, and other times in first person, even looking a bit like a shooter video game.

While the Survivor (as he is named in the credits) silently  and desperately searches for the others while avoiding marauding flesh eaters (more Romero-esk all organ diners, rather than just the cliché brains), we hear his thoughts as the virus slowly but surely starts nibbling at his rationale.

While his deterioration is what makes the core of the film, the visuals are actually quite impressive, with beautiful as well as ugly landscapes, wonderful make-up and gore effects, and for once hand-held camerawork that doesn’t make you want to barf like the Survivor.

Considering the low-budget, small crew, two-year filming timeframe, and all shot on a $500 Canon T2i DSLR, I’m still not surprised this is sopping up Festival awards left and right. Not only do I recommend this, you can watch it just by clicking on the link below. Scary to think what Ballif could do with an actual budget. Kudos, dude.

 

And be sure you stick around after the credits...