DIRECTED BY: Jason Hoover
REVIEWED BY: Mario Dominick
Jason Hoover and JABB Pictures, an independent production group from Illinois, bring us this 23-minute short about a man who, while walking his dog through the park, comes across the body of a dead woman buried under dirt and branches in the woods. Pondering on what he should do about this situation, instead of reporting it to the police, he puts the body in a big duffle bag, puts it in the back of his car and drives it home where he keeps it locked up in his tool shed. He seems to be a rather troubled individual as he goes out to the shed and frequently talks to the woman’s corpse. He talks to her about how he’s seen her walking her dog through the park and tells stories about his dog and his marriage and life at home. His wife soon starts to suspect he’s up to something weird, but when finally going to investigate, she soon learns the hard way that it’s better to leave some things alone.
Spike is a well done and well acted short that has an underlying theme about mental illness and what a schizophrenic or sociopath, like the main character appears to be, is capable of. Don’t go into it expecting a gore film. Instead, go into it expecting a psychological drama about a man’s desperation and what type of extremes it drives him to. For the concept, acting, and production alone, Spike gets a thumbs up.
JABB Pictures’ DVD of Spike contains a trailer for their other short Polly and two bonus experimental shorts from Jason Hoover, Dolls and In Heaven.
Purchase your copy of Spike at www.jabbpictures.com today.
