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DEAD STOP
Produced by Rob Robinson
Written, Directed, and Photographed by Philip Faiss
Edited by Debora RoventiniWoman - Debora Roventini
Killer - Stuart WilsonDEAD STOP is a new short film, from director Philip Faiss, that feels like the introductory segments from the current wave of trendy teen horror films rather than it's own entity. Like so many SCREAM clones over the past few years, DEAD STOP prefers irony to surprise.
A woman traveling by herself hears, over the radio, reports of an escaped lunatic. Sure enough, the first stop she comes to she runs right into said lunatic.
Now, this gal isn't the victim type made popular in the slasher films from the 1980's, she's part of a new breed of independent horror heroines who can trade punches with any man or beast. In fact, after she grows tired of hearing those "escaped lunatic" reports, our gal throws a "how to kickbox" cassette into her player just for a refresher course.
Have lunatic, will chase. That's the standard formula for the majority of horror shorts that cross my desk. DEAD STOP doesn't disappoint and break tradition. A run through the woods along with a little kung-fu action provide the foundation for a by the numbers example of what a horror film is.
The film is so paint-by-numbers that it becomes commentary on the genre. With it's dead on depictions of modern horror conventions, DEAD STOP becomes more parody than homage. It's an illustration of everything that's wrong with modern horror while being just as slick and professional as those calculated money machines Hollywood loves to churn out.