REVIEW: REPLAY

REPLAY (2006) Written and directed by Ramiro Hernandez
Distributor: Fandango Pictures View a clip here
Reviewer: TracyQ

Not really knowing what to expect from an 11 minute short, I was quite impressed – it packs a good wallop!

From director/writer Ramiro Hernandez (40 SECONDS, MOMENTOS EN TIEMPO), comes REPLAY, a cautionary tale of 2 young girls messing with something a great deal more powerful than themselves. Kylie (Emily Argenti) and Donna (Nicole Richards) immerse themselves in a Beta version of a virtual reality game discarded by Donna’s father, a Naval officer. Having deemed the game unfit for release and failing to reason with his boss that it must go back to formula stage due to, “too many variables”, Dad’s boss hands development over to another programmer out of frustration and desperation to complete the system. Dad chucks the disc – with the warning, “classified: do not run” - in the trash, where Donna quickly retrieves it and begins playing it with her friend Kylie. Once in the game, the two girls innocently play cards and chat waiting for the action to begin. What appears to be a knife-wielding Marcel Marceau commences the stalk.

Eventually confronted, Kylie summarily takes the mime out with a dead-on gunshot to the head. They remove the VR headsets and laugh giddily, having had their fun. What ensues is an indecipherable blur of reality and virtuality as the game does not seem to end once the headsets are removed. It becomes impossible for the girls to tell if they are still inside the game or not, and how will they survive against this madman either way?

One of said variables Dad neglected to mention is this VR game is apparently equipped with artificial intelligence and is being designed for use as a weapon by the armed forces. The soldier in the game (sporting clown make-up, no less) believes he is alive and continues to stalk relentlessly regardless if anyone is playing – his intended victims the girls who released this beast. The service becomes aware there has been a “breach” yet they are unable to contain the soldier themselves. I have no clue what the budget on this short was, but the direction and imagery are quite stunning and it smacks of a solid budget.

The acting itself is a bit stiff, but that’s sometimes to be expected in the indie realm. The kids actually deliver the best acting whereas the adult characters are quite rigid and borderline over-the-top. All in all, a very enjoyable film. I’m very interested in watching for other releases from Fandango if they are as potent as this little number was.

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