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Sunday, April 08, 2012

Tom Gets Familiar With "Familar"

One of the nice things about maintaining this blog and its noticeable uptick in readership of late is that indie filmmakers are reaching out to me like never before...asking me to check out their work....

The latest such request came from producer Zach Green of Fatal Pictures about their new horror short called Familiar starring Robert Nolan, Astrida Auza and Cathryn Hostick as "the seemingly idyllic yet ultimately doomed Dodd Family.Through a series of tragic events a middle aged man grows to suspect the negative impulses plaguing his mind may not be his own."

Written/Directed by Richard Powell--the Brilliant yes, I said brilliant 24 minute film does a lot with very little and in a very short space of time. The film reminded of episodes of classic anthology TV like "Twilight Zone" or "The Outer Limits" --the best of which took the mundane and ordinary, turned it inside out with a nice twist at the end. I actually think the limited run time is a great asset to Familiar as it gives the film more punch.

Nolan gives an outstanding performance as John Dodd--Subtle at first--seemingly very measured and then as the tension builds he pulls out all the stops as we discover what's really going on.

Cinematographer Michael Jari Davidson doesn't waste a single frame here and his shots match the tempo of the film--getting a bit more unique as things reach the climax. I want to also recognize the work of score composer Bernie Greenspoon--What could have been an over the top affair instead is used to great effect with music that enhances when needed rather than overtake what is on the screen...

A great movie! Better then most genre stuff Hollywood throws at us.

The team also put together other shorts Worm that has a cool connection to Familiar without being obvious--and Consumption.


I will be interviewing this team soon so stay tuned for that. In the meantime check out the teaser for Familiar



You can visit the Facebook page of Familiar. Be sure to follow Fatal Pictures on Twitter a well.

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