Freelance

John Balazs' Freelance is a remarkable achievement in independent filmmaking-a bold, stylish, and deeply atmospheric psychological thriller. As someone who understands the challenges of indie productions, it's inspiring to see a film so meticulously crafted, with no evidence of the usual budget-driven compromises in production or performance. Instead, Freelance feels highly polished, confidently standing among psychological thrillers while carving out its own unique identity.

At the centre of this film is Nicole Pastor's unforgettable performance as Katie, a video editor whose descent into obsession and paranoia is as mesmerising as it is chilling. Nicole brings incredible nuance to the role, layering her performance with subtle touches that mirror Katie's unraveling state of mind. Even small details-like Katie's haircut, symbolising her fractured psyche-feel deliberate and poignant. What impressed me most was Nicole's ability to navigate Katie's slow descent, sprinkling in moments of vulnerability and obsession before plunging the audience into the chaos of her madness.

The film is also a testament to the creative vision of John Balazs. The cinematography, lighting, and sound design create a palpable tension throughout, pulling the audience deeper into Katie's fractured world. Influences like David Fincher's precision and the vivid stylisation of The Neon Demon can be felt, yet Freelance maintains its own voice, refusing to feel derivative.

Independent filmmaking is often a delicate balancing act, with limited resources making it difficult to achieve the full scope of a director's vision. But with Freelance, John Balazs and his team have crafted a film that feels rich, cohesive, and uncompromising in its ambition. Huge congratulations to Nicole, John, and the entire cast and crew for creating something truly special. It's a reminder of what's possible when passion and talent converge-and I, for one, can't wait to see what comes next from this team.

The idea behind this movie was a good one and the performances are pretty good considering what they were given to work with, which wasn't much. This just didn't deliver at all. It's not scary , creepy, suspenseful or anything else. Some things happen and are never explained. The logic behind some of the lead actress's decisions in the film are absurd. There are scenes that add nothing to the film and some of these go on way too long. It also was a gigantic failure when it came to these supposedly disgusting snuff films she was editing as they weren't disgusting or believable. If she's supposed to be so repulsed by what she is editing, some money should have spent on actually making them look real and repulsive. I really wanted to like this because the idea that someone would take on a job that would end up haunting them was a good one, but this film doesn't succeed at all in portraying that.

Went in expecting to take a familiar stroll into the murder-for-viewing-pleasure world of snuff films, led by a couple incompetent filmmakers, with the inevitable line, "Snuff films? Come on man, those aren't real haha" (contrary to the endless amount of videos floating around the dark corners of the internet featuring people murdering each other). But Freelance was one of the very rare, pleasant surprises.

Checks all the technical boxes, competently shot, solid performance by the lead, pretty tight script, and some genuinely creepy sequences and effective scares

Unfortunately, if you think about the plot for more than 60 seconds, not much of what's happening actually makes sense

We have a group entrepreneurial murderers running some sort of on-demand, homicidal Hulu. These enterprising young men are capable of literally getting away with murder and distributing the content, yet they outsource video editing... to a total stranger?

Besides the fact this creates an unnecessary mountain of digital evidence, I'm prett confident I could post an on Craigslist and have an actual serial killer edit a video for me within the hour.

Also, the plot device that removes law enforcement from the equation is so low effort, it's practically is a parody of itself

All that being said, there's lot to appreciate here. If youre looking for something genuinely creepy, a little more on the twisted side (and able the look past the nonsensical business model of our ambitious young psychopaths), this should be at the front of the line.

It wasn't really my cup of tea, judging by the other reviews I may be a minority here. In all honesty, I would probably put it close to 'smiley' in the horror film rankings.

The main character is very hard to like. She has the personality of an angsty teenager, always seems to have this 'if you cant handle me at my worst, screw you' mentality. Every decision is like watching a child make it, maybe if I scream at my landlord when im several months behind on rent things will work out, maybe if I take this strangers thousands of dollars and do what he says for 1 night its perfectly legal.

The 'twist' was overhyped in my opinion, by like 30 or 40 mins in you can get a pretty good feel for where the story is heading, and how its most probably going to end.

As above, it's clearly a small indie film but the character's position as a young freelance trying to make it is highly relatable.

Believable acting, solid sets and effects, and good casting. I liked the little bits of mystery and the reveals were actually satisfying.

On one hand I liked how a fair amount of time was given to expanding on the main character's life and interactions with people such as with at the coffee shop. Overall I'd recommend it as an example of what a small budget indie film can be. Although I personally find things to drag just a little here and there and believe several shots could have been tightened up / dream sequences being redundant.

7/10 refreshing, indie thriller.