Charlie

T"here are so many of these "he's in the house" bits. This doesn't offer much more but it is suspenseful. The problem is that it is about five minutes too long. It's also cheaply made. But to give it only one star is just spiteful. The acting by the young guy is reasonably good and there is some pretty good editing.

Short about a young guy (Max Mordue) who receives a chain email. It says if he does not email this out to 9 more people Charlie will come and kill him tomorrow night. Naturally he doesn't believe it and ignores it. However, the next night, he's home alone. All the electricity suddenly goes out and he starts hearing strange noises from all around his place...

It starts slow and meanders a bit in the middle but it does pay off at the end. It's downright unsettling what's happening to the poor kid and I felt a few pleasurable shivers go up my spine during it. However the ending is (sort of) open and doesn't lead to a totally satisfying conclusion. Still it DID work and is worth catching. Only 16 minutes long.

Right, there are two reviews on here. One is admittedly extremely enthusiastic, the second is I'd say unnecessarily critical. I don't think its fair to assume the first is a member of the crew, I've found my way here from YouTube which has some rave reviews on this film.

For me this film hit a lot of notes that horror is lacking nowadays, to be able to create such atmosphere with such little resources is extremely impressive in my opinion. Yes I would of liked to have had more of a climactic ending but then a part of me does wonder if to see more would ruin it. This isn't for people who love SAW, this is more for people who like Paranormal Activity and the Blair witch project. If you're going in expecting blood, gore and jump scares you're not going to enjoy yourself i'll be honest.

The Plot.

"...if you don't forward this email to 15 people in the next 5 minutes Charlie will come for you at 9pm tomorrow night..."

We receive these emails every day and ignore them, dismissing them as hoaxes.

But what would happen if on turned out to be true?

The story of Charlie follows Dan, a young man who ignores this email, unaware that his action has sparked the beginning of the end.

And you will be begging for this borefest to be over.

Poorly directed. There is no suspense. The acting is OK but the story is stoopid. This 15 minute short feels like 1500 minutes.

And note -- the ONE effusive review was clearly written by a clown who worked on this horrible picture.

As short films go, Charlie is relentlessly tense and leaves you feeling unnervingly anxious throughout. It utilizes filming techniques that are often overlooked in the modern age in which it allows the viewer to use their imagination which can often be 100 times more powerful than anything the director could show us. A simple concept turned into quite a brilliant piece of work, again another thing overlooked in modern film, simple concepts developed into fresh ideas. Modern settings and actual believable British acting, fingers crossed we see more from Luke Mordue and Mordue Productions, preferably in more feature productions if this short is anything to go by.