jannycwriter

A lesson not to slack in history class is learned the hard way for four high school students: Jayden (Rachel O'Day), Kayden (Madeline Schlitcher), Hayden (Jaden Wesely Brown), and Payden (Angela Kuzel). Bored in their Latin American history class, learning about the Liberator of Brazil, Prince Dom Pedro. The students mock their teacher's words of urgency, suggesting that this test on Prince Dom Pedro may be the most important of their young lives. Brushing it off and mocking the great historical first leader of Brazil, they suddenly start to hear threatening voices - oddly, in Portuguese?

Stange. Artistic. Weird. Swanson and Fishel held my interest. I liked it.

Operating under a budget of only $55,277, The Keeper's Diary: A Biohazard Story hits all the marks in this Indie Resident Evil fan film short based on the popular 1996 video game. Directed by Andrew Saullo, he delivers 16 minutes of pure joy to Resident Evil fans worldwide that only Hollywood wishes it could have done with its lackluster attempts. Let Saullo show you how it's done.

Saullo lifts right from the diary you find in the game, keeping true to the game's story, which is what we RE fans have wanted all along in a film adaptation. It is so cool to see The Keeper's descriptions brought to life, and the Hunter scene made my jaw drop and then squeal with delight.

The CGI is jaw-dropping, especially for this low-budget indie short. Saullo and his Visual Effects department do outstanding work. What really makes The Keeper's Diary: A Biohazard Story a top prize is its cast. The Keeper is played by Charlie Kraslavsky, who RE fans may recognize if they played the Resident Evil Directors Cut version back in the day. Which as a fan was so amazing!

Mickey Hardaway is a film every mental health practitioner should see, heck the whole world should see as Mickey Hardaway shows exactly how our mental health system fails us.

Shot entirely in black and white the only color we get is when Mickey meets Grace as we see Grace is the only color, and brightness in his painful black-and-white life. Cox does a phenomenal job in his directorial debut. I applaud him so much and can relate deeply to this film. Much of it brought tears to my eye as I saw Mickey and Grace so much my husband and me. Cox presents a beautiful piece that is flawless in my opinion, and the cast is stellar. Every shot has a meaning and every cast member commands each scene they are in. David Chattam gives a vicious performance as Randall Hardaway aka Mickey's dad, and he delivers the cruelest line ever delivered in a film that I have ever heard.

Rashad Hunter as Mickey though is the breakout star. He portrays Mickey with a realistic vulnerability that you can not help but feel even maybe relate to. I like how Cox cuts Mickey slip into instability in an almost uneventful way till it's too late, which, is kind of true to life. When a person goes off the deep end no one ever sees it coming. It is usually after the fact the signs are seen.

Mickey Hardaway is currently out on the film festival circuit and should be winning tons of awards in my book.

A great indie art house piece my rating is 10/10.