Cargo

Never have I ever thought in my entire life a seven minute zombie film would make me cry and think as much as Cargo did. As a parent and as an avid zombie enthusiast it really did it for me. The simplicity and lack of lines made it seem so much more real than the top films in the genre. What I perceived from the film was this: Unconditional love never dies, no matter how much change we have in ourselves (for better or worse in this case becoming the undead) we can and will do anything to protect our children even from ourselves if we must. I'd really hope they could have won the award this was nominated for. I can't wait for more work from Yolanda. This this seven minute piece of art really made me think and of course cried. Thank you for Cargo.

Cargo, a touching 7-minute Australian short by directors Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke, focuses on just one of the small-scale personal tragedies that occurs as a result of a zombie outbreak.

The film opens with a man (Andy Rodoreda) waking from a car crash to find that his wife (Alison Gallagher), still strapped in by her seat belt, has turned into a zombie, and that he has been bitten on the arm. His baby daughter (Ruth Venn) is in the back of the car, unharmed. How can he guarantee the safety of his child once he also becomes a zombie?

Without giving away the answer, his plan is both a little yucky and rather ingenious, leading to a satisfying conclusion that should pull on the heartstrings of even the most hardened zombie fans.

With a solid opening(effective storytelling defined; aspiring filmmakers, take notes. Make a list of just how many things are communicated by the start of this, if you want protips), this brings us into the middle of a zombie apocalypse, with a man determined to save his infant. But there's one huge problem - he's already been bitten.

When there is no more room for new takes on this subgenre, the crap will overload it. And in that situation, maybe the best thing to do is to focus on the characters, and give the audience a small-scale, personal story. It has been said that the way to determine if a monster story is good or not, is whether the creature could be removed, or at the very least replaced, and there would still be something compelling there. This, like many classical tales, succeeds that test, where many fail.

The 6 and a half minute(without credits, 7 with) running time flies by. If anything, it starts out on a high note, and only gains in traction. It gets increasingly devastating as it goes. While you won't realize immediately "what is going on"(what the man is actually doing and why), once you do, it's a fantastic idea, and you cheer in an earnest way that few current productions inspire. Production values are excellent, everything feels real, the Romero-esque setting is entirely credible.

There is constant disturbing content and a little bloody, brutal violence in this. I recommend this to everyone who likes undead horror. 8/10

Cargo (2013) is the short film that inspired the fantastic Cargo (2017) starring Martin Freeman and is a hugely condensed version essentially of the same plot.

It in 7 minutes tells the story of one mans desperate attempt at finding help for his baby daughter during the zombie apocalypse after he himself is bitten and has mere hours before he turns.

If you have watched the feature first then you will likely go in with expectations that couldn't possibly be met. However if you take it for what it is, a simple hyper quick short version of the story with a quaint modified version of the features finale then you may find enjoyment.

This was also written/directed by the same people who would go onto do the feature movie four years later and honestly it shows.

The Good:

Heart wrenching

The Bad:

Finale was stretched out a bit far

Oddly paced

Things I Learnt From This Short:

Moral of the story, don't have kids. Though honestly that's the moral of every story including the tale of life itself!

A man awakens from a car crash to find that his wife has become a zombie . Exiting the car he rescues his baby daughter from the backseat then realises he has a bite mark which will almost certainly convert him in to being a zombie

Yet another film featuring a zombie apocalypse . You can understand why film makers keep visiting this sub genre of horror because it's relatively easy to stick a few extras on location with some make up and that's all you basically need . Like so many zombie shorts you feel you're watching a segment of a much longer feature and CARGO is no different . What this short does very well is bring a human element to the narrative . We know that the father has been bitten , that he has a baby to protect and our fears are for that baby should the father become one of the infected/undead . It possibly won't have a market outside the hard core horror market but it's nice to see a horror short that reflects upon the human element of a story