Advantage Satan

Entertaining short film that starts out as one kind of story, then surprisingly turns into another, effectively knocking the viewer off-balance. A young couple (Mark Winter and Shelly Lauman) are walking home after a big night on the town. Drunk but still full of energy, the two wander the streets in the early hours of the morning. After resting at a nearby park, the couple come across a tennis court, and see that the gate has been left unlocked. The two enter, but just as they are about to get physical, they discover they are not alone. Director Sean Byrne shifts tone convincingly, displaying complete confidence as the film moves from natural comedy to something much more sinister. Technically the film is first-rate, from the cinematography, editing, and especially the sound design. Byrne has a good eye for knowing what to show, and when to cut. He also gets strong performances from both Winter and Lauman. Only the ending disappoints, which seems illogical given the set-up and reason why the court is left unlocked. I certainly hope 'Advantage' leads to Byrne making a feature film (hopefully 'The Loved Ones' is it).

This is a horror short about two young lovers getting into trouble in a haunted tennis court.

"Advantage" has a simple plot, but it is very effective. It delivers the thrilling chill that keeps me on edge and makes my heart pump. The sinister happenings in the tennis court are simple, but sometimes the simplest scares are the scariest. The woman, played Shelly Lauman, portrays her fright well. Her expressions of panic is realistic, enhancing the scary atmosphere and the urgency of the situation. The idea of "Advantage" has potential to be developed into a full length film.

Advantage (2007)

*** (out of 4)

Interesting short about a couple drunk teens who go to a tennis court to mess around and drink some more but before long it appears there's something else there with them. As the teens go to leave the court appears to come to life and won't allow them out. ADVANTAGE is a mildly entertaining short that shows promise from director Sean Byrne as he clearly has an eye for some style. I'll admit that I've seen dozens if not hundreds of ghost stories yet I believe this is the first one dealing with a haunted tennis court. It's a pretty wild idea to begin with but I thought the director and screenwriter did about as good of a job with it as you could expect. The first seven-minutes pretty much has the teens messing around and then the final three-minutes has the court coming to life. I didn't find there to be any suspense but then again I think a lot of this has to do with the actual setting. The film was clearly influenced by the Japanese ghost movies and this is easy to spot with the fast cutting pace as well as the ending when we actually see what's doing all the damage. I thought the two actors (Mark Winter, Shelly Lauman) were also quite good in their roles. The 2.35:1 aspect ratio is also put to good use as the director really uses it to his advantage including a very good shot early on as the drunk couple are walking away from their car and the image of the house behind them was quite good. This certainly isn't a classic ghost tale but it's a nice way to kill ten-minutes.