The Joseph Simmons directed and co-written short horror film, Vestige is due to get its world premiere at Frightfest on 28th August at 18:30 in London, just a little time away from when this is being published. It was apparent from the very start that this short film was going for quality and atmosphere over cheap thrills, something I was happy to see, as was the feeling of this being a partial homage to the works of H.P Lovecraft.
Teenager Lucas (Ben Hackett - Coronation Street TV show) has suffered a loss in his recent past, with his father apparently drowning in the sea. His father had been obsessed with cassette tapes, and had left his son some recordings on them, hoping he too will find the magic in them too. While exploring a coastal cave while listening to his father's voice, Lucas discovers a strange fossilised creature. He discovers that somehow, this fossil is able to affect the recordings, with a message being revealed on them that seems to suggest that Lucas' father is seeking his help. Lucas becomes obsessed with this hidden message, much to the despair of his granddad Samuel (Steve Evats - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), who sees the boys claim a result of the grief he is feeling.
I loved the atmosphere with Vestige, the coastal cave was suitably imposing, especially the entrance way which is shown with some nice cinematography. As for that title itself, 'vestige' has a few meanings, the one relevant being 'a trace or remnant of something that is disappearing or no longer exists'. This of course fits in with Lucas trying to hold on to the memory of his father by constantly re-playing his words from his cassette tape player. The central idea of a hidden message being in the tape collection was a bit hard to follow. With Lucas' thoughts kept to himself you get some montages of him cutting up the tapes and fixing them together, but without the context of why he is doing this, or how he knows what parts to fit together. This gave the sense that it could well be the boy was struggling to deal with his sorrow at his father's passing, something which is kept a mystery right up until the end. Lucas was ok as the protagonist, though I wished he had more lines to really explain what he was doing. Evats was great as his granddad, the more interesting character of the two. This all culminates with an effective scene, even if the CG was a little bit obvious. It made for an interesting way to finish things, though not that surprising.
I appreciated that this went to some lengths to tell a competent story over just trying to scare the viewer. The backstory was drip fed in an engaging way, and the performances of the small cast were effective. It is always impressive how a story with elements of depth to it can be created in such a short time frame, and this story flows into its twelve minute slot very well. More about Vestige can be found on its Instagram page here.
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