Milk & Serial

I was unfamiliar with Curry Barker and his YouTube channel where he and his team have made several short movies in the past, however Milk & Serial had quite a lot of people talking and therefore I needed to check it out.

The movie is made with a a budget of $800, which is astonishing because they managed to make a pretty good movie, which was seriously entertaining and quite enjoyable overall. The acting was really convincing which surprised me because low budget productions often suffer from really bad acting, however Curry Barker, Cooper Tomlinson and the rest of the cast all do a commendable job. The movie offers quite some twists and therefore definitely is able to keep the audience's attention which also shouldn't be that big of a task with about an hour of runtime, however there were multiple moments where I was thrown off guard for a second because the story switched up. There are movies out there with similar themes so it's not completely original but nonetheless it managed to be quite unique with its narrative. Obviously there are no massive special effects or gruesome gore, but that kept the whole atmosphere really realistic, which is another element that worked really well. The found footage aspect, the believable acting and the realistic narrative really gave this movie a scarily realistic feeling. Obviously this movie was far from perfect and there are flaws as well, however I think they can be mostly overlooked and I would definitely like to see more from these young filmmakers. This was by far better than many of the latest Hollywood projects, especially when it comes to horror. However you have to keep in mind that this really low budget is the crucial argument for this movie's success and love. If you take away this aspect the movie is still a well done Horror-Thriller but nothing groundbreaking and while it grabs your attention in the moment, it lacks the depth to remain memorable. [5,6/10]

Milk and Serial follows two friends who have an extremely popular YouTube channel based on pranks. The movie starts with Milk's birthday party and things go south pretty quickly but what makes this not just another found footage horror flick is the acting and the script. I am a huge fan of found footage movies and I've seen the majority of them. Milk and Serial blows 99% of them out of the water. Everyone in the cast did an amazing job, but especially Milk and Seven (two main guys). You can feel their friendship (not matter how strange of a relationship they have). While this movie is only an hour long it packs a punch. A+

Curry Barker who plays Milk, has delivered a very unique piece of entertainment surrounding a cunning serial killer. Milk & his best friend Seven have a YouTube channel called 'prank bros' and they have some pretty serious pranks that's they play on each other. The film begins with the making of a prank, Seven is clearly the more serious one of the two of them, and plans to play a rather cruel prank on Milk, on his birthday of all days. The prank all goes slightly sinister when what appears to be a neighbour shows up at the door complaining about the noise and acting very sketchy. The film sounds simple but ends up full of twists and turns, with a bit of welcomed unpredictability. For a short movie, filmed on purpose in a kind of amateur way deliberately, it was really good. Definitely worth watching as it trumps the amount of entertaining you get from most films in a shorter amount of time. Also the acting from Milk was remarkable, I will now be checking out his other short movies and hope to see more of Curry Barkers name in the future.

A friend recommended I watch this, and I'm really glad he did. In an age of vacuous YouTube influencers and vloggers, this is a brilliant concept: take the format that I personally find pretty repulsive, and spin it on its head by putting the iPhone in the hands of a Gen Z psychopath.

The whole thing sucks you in by being extremely believable, thanks to some eerily well acted early scenes. The twists keep coming and thanks to some really snappy editing this film hits you right between the eyes.

Like a found-footage version of Man Bites Dog, this is a really exciting find, which is completely free on YouTube. The fact that this thing is available on the very platform it is slyly critiquing is a brilliant twist in itself, however it's the plot developments in this short film that will have you watching it for a second time almost immediately.

Hollywood must surely beckon for the cast and director.

The film's atmosphere captures a raw, gritty vibe, blurring the line between what's playful and what's unsettling. It's smartly paced, offering just enough time to figure out the ambiguity before diving deep into the darker side of things. The interplay between the characters creates an engaging dynamic, and the found-footage style enhances the believability, making it feel like you're unraveling the truth alongside them. The tension builds gradually, but once the facade drops, it gets uncomfortable in the best way. It's refreshing how it doesn't overstay its welcome, staying concise while maintaining suspense. "What do you mean you don't like it?"