I came to a screening that was held in Norwich (some kind of Valentine's day special event) the other day with some friends and this film was screened there. I happened to come across this film here on IMDb and couldn't resist the urge to review it.
My first reaction to the film was somewhat positive, as I thought it was actually a very original short film. I haven't seen anything quite like this (and I think I'm hard to impress). The storyline was very different to anything that I might've seen in the past so hats off to Michael Hill's first film - apparently. The idea of murder but done discreetly using free sample fragrance was a good concept. The serial killer known as 'Lilith' was a clever character as I would think realistically she would get away with such daring actions.
However I did detect some flaws in the film. I thought that the actor playing Stephen aka the main character was quite comedic at times when I think the film was trying to be serious and somewhat horrific to watch. He was pulling funny faces and at various times quite 'adorable' to watch rather than taking him seriously. The cinematography was a little shoddy at times. It felt like a child was holding the camera or to be fair a student was holding the camera. As I was watching it I felt that the DOP was trying to create something admiring with the cinematography and I respect that, however I thought he failed badly as it just looked clumsy and again 'shoddy'. I don't particularly understand why the father later on in the film was Northern when I think the actor playing him is actually British trying to put on an accent. Didn't seem to make sense as I was watching it. Who knows? He may be Northern, but I just couldn't believe it. And last but not least why was Lilith selling fragrance in a village hall? I never heard of anyone selling these things in a village hall, no one does that actually!
This is why I'm rating it a 6 instead of anything higher, cause it really could've been something spectacular due to originality. But seeing as it's clearly a first attempt to movie-making i'm gonna give it something reasonable and average - and that's me being kind.
My first reaction to the film was somewhat positive, as I thought it was actually a very original short film. I haven't seen anything quite like this (and I think I'm hard to impress). The storyline was very different to anything that I might've seen in the past so hats off to Michael Hill's first film - apparently. The idea of murder but done discreetly using free sample fragrance was a good concept. The serial killer known as 'Lilith' was a clever character as I would think realistically she would get away with such daring actions.
However I did detect some flaws in the film. I thought that the actor playing Stephen aka the main character was quite comedic at times when I think the film was trying to be serious and somewhat horrific to watch. He was pulling funny faces and at various times quite 'adorable' to watch rather than taking him seriously. The cinematography was a little shoddy at times. It felt like a child was holding the camera or to be fair a student was holding the camera. As I was watching it I felt that the DOP was trying to create something admiring with the cinematography and I respect that, however I thought he failed badly as it just looked clumsy and again 'shoddy'. I don't particularly understand why the father later on in the film was Northern when I think the actor playing him is actually British trying to put on an accent. Didn't seem to make sense as I was watching it. Who knows? He may be Northern, but I just couldn't believe it. And last but not least why was Lilith selling fragrance in a village hall? I never heard of anyone selling these things in a village hall, no one does that actually!
This is why I'm rating it a 6 instead of anything higher, cause it really could've been something spectacular due to originality. But seeing as it's clearly a first attempt to movie-making i'm gonna give it something reasonable and average - and that's me being kind.
