Firebase

Neill Blomkamp departs slightly from his trademark gritty visual style and socioeconomic premises with 'Firebase', a solidly crafted short within the Vietnam war genre that effectively breeds with straight out horror, injecting an unconquerable foe into the nightmarish fold. But it still retains the director's penchant for weaving CGI effects realistically into the setting.

What it lacks in characterisation and closure it more than makes up for in disturbing imagery and creatively building up its main threat. Something evil has risen in the jungles and the grimness of war horror is not forgotten either. For a short film, the budget is quite remarkable. It's pretty much movie quality, and Neill Blomkamp does a fantastic job of stretching that budget across its 25 minute runtime. From the hauntingly realistic raw footage-like montage at the start to the tempo-driven climax, 'Firebase' has a lot to like, and its a shame there's not more to it, just when it breaks stride with some awesome moments in its final scenes.

Lets hope Neill Blomkamp continues to impress with his short films from Oats Studios until his next major movie (maybe expanding on one his recent shorts). 8/10

FIREBASE is Director Neill Blomkamp's astonishing vision of the Vietnam war, where the inexplicable "River God" turns the jungle conflict into something even more catastrophic! Can the army possibly stop this paranormal abomination?

Part APOCALYPSE NOW, all supernatural horror, this short film is a unique, mini masterpiece of macabre storytelling. Fabulous CGI and believable humans add to the fright factor. The ending leaves one wanting more...

Firebase follows a group of American soldiers during the Vietnam War who come face to face with a mysterious supernatural foe known as the "River God". The River God it turns out was a villager who lost his wife and transformed into a skeletal entity with the abilities of invisibility and invincibility, hunting down the enemy soldiers to make them feel his pain.

As a concept Firebase is quite interesting, it reminded me a lot of the original Predator film with a group of soldiers in the jungle under attack from an invisible and seemingly invincible enemy. Unfortunately this short is little more than just that, a concept. There was a plan to turn Firebase into a feature length film via crowd funding but unfortunately it was cancelled soon after funding began. Sadly all we are left with is this interesting concept for a film that will likely never be made.

This is now the third Oats Studios short I've watched and I'm suitably impressed. Well made, great production values, well cast and they look fantastic.

Here we have a third seemingly Omnipotent force appearing during the Vietnam War and the story is told perfectly.

Well, that is until it suddenly ends incomplete on a cliff hanger! That's the trouble with these shorts, they are like a single scene ripped from a grand scale epic movie.

The scene is great, but it's just a scene all the same.

Firebase certainly has oceans of entertainment value but is yet another Oats Studios story that will never be fully told.

The Good:

Looks great

Awesome story/Entity

Documentary footage fits nicely

The Bad:

Incomplete with huge cliff hanger ending

God damn it I want to see more of it. The atmosphere had me hooked up from the first minute! Well done!