Greed & Gore is a short fourteen minute horror film that was directed and co-written by Adam Kirkey. It lives up to its title with a story that is a cross between Reservoir Dogs and The Strangers, featuring plenty of greed, and indeed, plenty of gore.
After robbing a bank and taking a hostage, a group of criminals are out in rural Canada on the way to a safehouse that their driver has chosen. When arriving, despite the poor condition of the property, they decide to hunker down for the night, celebrating their heist with alcohol and partying. After the lights suddenly go out one of them heads into the basement to check the generator, unaware that there is an intruder in the house who is none too happy to see them there.
I love short films that feel like they are much longer than they actually are. With Greed & Gore you have a feature length story crammed into a short, but without feeling like it is really missing too much. From the initial car journey, to the partying montage scene, up to the first kill, events move along swiftly but without seeming rushed. The anti-heroes are a slightly generic bunch, you have strong silent Whiskey (Nick DeWolfe), comedic joker Tango (Matthew Bell), perpetually angry Romeo (Krishan Dutt - The Boys TV show) cold Sierra (Monica Zelak), with calm and collected Delta (Curtis Desrosiers) rounding out the crew. I did enjoy the montage scene of Tango throwing notes around everywhere, was a fun little sequence.
From the moment of the first kill events ramp up. The gore part of the title fits well as there are some really fun looking moments of violence. From a severed hand, to a head split in half horizontally, and numerous axe blows, this all looked great, if a little clean. While there is a reliance on practical effects, some of the stuff around the edges seemed like it had some CG assistance, such as the frequent cutaways to show the house in the howling wind and rain. The killer was a typical masked maniac, but I liked his look, the mask that looked like a zombie clown was pretty neat. In terms of the story, I liked the hostage angle, it is never made clear if the killer is purposely leaving her, or if they have just seen her as a non-threat. The first kill that takes place in the basement around the blindfolded victim (Julie Mainville - Confessions of a Haunting..., We Are the Missing) was a highlight, loving the way the blood from the kill splashes over her.
There was variety with the filmmaking throughout, from drone shots, to shots that appear to have been done from chest mounted cameras on the actors, and insert shots, it was varied but never felt too much.
The award-winning Greed & Gore is available to stream now from Slinger Pictures, with the filmmakers hoping to start production on a feature version of this idea this Autumn. This short doesn't outstay its welcome, is full of violence, and looks fantastic. Maybe some of the kill effects looked a little too crisp and clear, but overall I was impressed with how this was made, exceeding my expectations.
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