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Spike (2009)
Recently I had the pleasure to check out independent filmmaker Jason Hoover’s short film titled “Spike”. Considering that short films are rather hit or miss with me I have to say I was a bit nervous about it, mainly because I know Jason personally and it’s hard when people you know make something less than stellar. Luckily that wasn’t the case here as I really did enjoy “Spike” as it’s well made and honestly one of the more humorous shorts I’ve ever seen of the horror variety.
“Spike” is about a man who one day while walking his dog runs across a dead body. Instead of doing what most people would do and call the cops, the man decides to take the body home with him and keep it in his tool shed. See the man is married and not at all interested in his wife. His life has driven him to loneliness and boredom which seemingly will change with this addition to his tool shed. The film features scenes where the man is speaking directly with the corpse and talking to it like it was another human being. The scenes are funny, sad and pretty thought provoking overall. To me this short does what all good shorts do to me and that’s make me want for more and wish that the thing was a feature length project.
It should be mentioned that Bill Hardesty did a wonderful job in the lead as the lonely man and is pretty damn funny in the film. He’s very natural which is something I think is necessary when you’re talking about acting. If anything comes of unnatural it doesn’t work and that’s not the case here at all. His scenes are filled with him just talking to the corpse and the dialog here is gold. I was laughing my ass off during it but it’s all very natural and none of it feels forced in the least.
Director Jason Hoover does a excellent job with the film especially with how it progresses. I mentioned earlier that I found the film to be funny but you should see how things change with the final frame of the short. I thought this was done very well by Jason and shows that he really knows what he’s doing when it comes to making a film. When a movie can take you in one emotional direction and take you somewhere completely different in a matter of seconds, I think that’s one of the marks of a great filmmaker.
Bottom line is as far as “Spike” goes it’s an interesting short film that does exactly what it’s supposed to. The DVD itself says that the film was made by someone without any formal film training and you would never know it watching this. It’s very professional, very entertaining and something I would definitely recommend to others. Look out for Jason Hoover folks because if he can make features like this one, we’re going to have a lot of great stuff to look for in the future. You can get a copy of "Spike" (for only $10!) and get more information about Broken Face Productions at http://brokenfaceproductions.com/
Rating - ***
-Ed Demko
