Two men (father and son) drive into the darkness of the forest. When the clock turns to a certain time, the elder starts to prepare a perfectly arranged little presentation of feathers, an animal skull, a vegetable – but when it comes to it, he does not have any meat. We learn this is necessary and without there will be a problem; the two men try to figure out what to do in this situation.
Visually and technically there is a lot to like this film for. It is shot entirely at night and in snow – challenging conditions but ones that add to the atmosphere of the short. It also has a very simple situation, albeit one with supernatural elements and a horror tone. All of this works well and there is a certain level that it works, but not on all levels. Specifically it doesn't work as well as it should for a standalone film. The lack of details and the simplicity of it all does draw the viewer in to see more, but there is not much beyond what we see; this is understandable but it is still a weakness.
A second weakness is in the material and performances. While the viewer may not know what is going on, the two men do, and I though their fear should have been more real than it was. The acting is part of this; it is fine, but it needed to be better – to bring out or suggest a lot of things that the material didn't. They do enough to make the basics work and support the atmosphere, but the two actors can't bring more than that or expand on it with their performances, which is a shame because the film needed them.
The Offering still works as a basic chiller, but it plays like the opening scene of something longer – and actually viewed like this it works better. As it is though, it is a standalone film and, while the atmosphere is good and the film looks sharp, the lack of development within the characters or the material does limit it.
