An ultra low budget romance/horror that actually has some really great and emotional moments, unfortunately brought down by a lot of pretty obvious flaws.
First let's get the low budget stuff out of the way. It was clearly made on the cheap. One of the first panning shots we get looks like they didn't properly loosen the tripod so it just jitters along. Some shots seem pretty flat in terms of framing and lighting. But occasionally, maybe by luck or maybe but skill, the film does look good. Certain moments look great with the black and white emphasizing some purposeful lighting choices. While it never quite shakes it's general cheapness, it's not student film bad. More like a student filmmaker who actually has some talent doing something a little more interesting.
But then there's the story. It's an extremely interesting concept, but something about the execution doesn't quite work. Maybe it was the restraints of a low budget, but it just sort of jumps into things in an awkward way. It also takes quite a long time to get into the meat of things, lingering on the "haunted house" aspect that I found to be weaker and more clichéd (although some of that is purposeful and contains nods to many different horror films.) Considering it's a short film, the extended first act causes the development of the main characters to feel way too fast to be fully believable, which is a shame because I found the ending to be extremely emotionally powerful.
Then there's the two leads. They both have a slightly amateurish quality to them, but they also have their moments. I found Natalie Walker to be the stronger of the two. There's something about her performance that made the romance believable. You feel for her and her situation, even though it's something otherwordly. MacLeod Andrews who plays our lead also has some really good comedic moments, but he sort of felt like he was always aware of the camera being there. Not that he gives an awful performance, but it always felt like he was saying "I'm acting!" as opposed to being fully relaxed and immersed in his character.
I had a lot to say about this because there's something there that I really liked, but it's kind of poorly executed in a few too many ways for me to fully invest myself in. But considering some of the really high praise other people have given it, I see it becoming a bit of a cult classic in the future.
