Go ahead, laugh all you want at the genre description. The truth of the matter is Wostenberg's tale of bleak optimism and waning hope is played completely straight; there's no winking at the camera to be seen here. And what's all the more odd is the film never once becomes laughable in spite of the outrageous premise. For within the backdrop of a crumbling society buckling under the weight of a violent contagion and its own obsession with sanitation, the story of a mother who struggles to save a young girl from the same fate as her own doomed child is highly affecting and engaging. All across the board, the production values of this USC short genuinely outshine those of recent big budget sci-fi fare like Chronicles of Riddick. For you gore hounds out there, you've got a very healthy fix of vampiric feasting and swordplay on display here. And the songs, especially "When Salvation Comes," will stick with you long after the credits have rolled. If you need a one-sentence blurb, I can't put it any simpler: student films don't get any more ambitious or compelling than this!
