A Chilling Experience

Director: J. T. Mollner

Writer: J. T. Mollner

Noremake Productions comes through with the mind-bending short film "The Red Room." Delivering the right amount of lighting effects and characterizations "The Red Room," delivers in a few minutes what many full feature films cannot in an hour and a half, an entertaining, sophisticated viewing experience. Director J. T. Mollner amps up the tension in the film, with various photography techniques, while Mikos Zavros as Nicholas Rowe and Nathan Russell as Dr. Hardley Prince work off of each others performances to make the screenplay for "The Red Room," shine.

The plot involves character Rowe partaking in some criminal activity, for money, with temporary business partner Dr. Hardley Prince. Meeting in a dark, well-lit parking lot an additional meeting location is discussed and once at Rowe's apartment the story moves into very grey territory.

Showing off the city landscapes cinematographer Kevin Atkinson uses varying colours to create for a very surreal visual experience. Changing the colours of backdrops from purples to oranges and back again "The Red Room," amplifies the visual appeal by deliberately contrasting the intensity of lighting sources. Only the scene transitions, which use bright reds and blues, stand out more strongly than the lighting in the picture itself.

The story and plot remain straight forward as the short runtime of fourteen minutes means that every shot must serve a purpose and move the film on towards the climactic ending involving a very clever twist. Not skimping on characterizations Dr. Hardley Prince and Nicholas Rowe are fleshed out in the sparse time frame, but only surface details of each character are shown, initially, to the crowd. Heightening the tension in the final few scenes the writing utilizes a clever camera technique to slow down the final story reveal that will not be given away here.

"The Red Room," has already had a premiere at the SoCal Independent Film Festival in 2008 and copies of the DVD are rare. So, if viewers would like to the see the film for themselves, and this reviewer recommends that you do, contact Mikos Zavros or other Noremake Producion business partners at the pages listed below.

8.5 Greyish Skulls out of 10.

The homepage of Mikos Zavros actor in "The Red Room," and business partner of Noremake Productions:

Mikos Zavros' Homepage

Director and writer J. T. Moller's homepage:

J. T. Mollner's Homepage

Posted in: acting,ghost story,ian young,independent,j. t. mollner,kevin atkinson,lighting,mikos zavros,movie poster,movie review,nathan russell,noremake productions,plot,the red room