A week ago I was sent the short film Wasted to review. Wasted is another entry in the CineCoup 2015 Challenge where filmmakers compete with their short films to receive funds to make a more professional, feature length adaption. Here’s my review of Wasted having watched it and don’t forget to check the bottom of this post to see how you can show your support for this title in the contest! Voting ends tomorrow!
Wasted is written, directed and produced by Satheesan Nagenthiram with Lance Fernandes and cinematographer Pavan Sharma. Cast members include Lovina M. Yavari, Brian Quintero, Darrin Drugan, Steve Kasan, Samuel Lin and Nagenthiram.
The film follows, “four life long friends, Sid, Antony, Mark and Steve who are spending their time in Mark’s garage getting wasted while imagining scenarios of what they would do if the zombie apocalypse were to occur. Once there is no more Canadian beer left, they venture out for a refill only to find…the zombie apocalypse has happened!”
Being that Wasted is in the film competition, where it will hopefully gain some sort of traction from investors, I think it’s important for me to talk about the film’s demographic. While it falls in the middle of the zombie lovers’ pool, I think Wasted would best be marketed at males between the age of 14 and 24. The comedy, the substance abuse, the sexual innuendos, the violence… Really, out of all that I think the drug use is what will draw in the younger viewers. Wasted is a mix of Half Baked meets Office Space meets Zombieland. Does it fit my personal taste? No, but I know that there is a huge market for the subject material and combining the shenanigans of the stoned characters with zombie action will undoubtedly lead to a successful picture.
When it comes to grading Wasted from a production or technical standpoint, I would have to give it a B-. Not a B+, not a B, but a B- . My only critiques that knocked it down a little bit is that the opening sequence of a young woman fending off a zombie in a parking garage looks way out of focus throughout the first half of that scene. Also, some of the effects like blood splattering and explosions look pixilated and hokey as all Hell, but I do understand that the CGI is problematic due to the low budget of the film. Everything else is great and shows that the filmmakers behind Wasted have a good understanding on how to make a film that doesn’t fall into the usual pitfalls of independent production. I thoroughly enjoyed the acting (minus one) and I enjoyed the animation of the apocalypse planning even more. It gave it an extra layer of professionalism, some out of the box moments and the animation is something flashy that’ll keep all the stoned little idiots glued to the screen. A great viewing experience overall.
There’s nothing really else to say about Wasted due to the fact that it’s a short film, a rather well put together horror-comedy. I would have added an extra minute or two to the run time for safety, but that just goes to show that I was interested in the film enough to want to see more. Should Wasted not win the CineCoup 2015 Challenge, I hope the producers continue forward trying to adapt it into a series of shorts or a feature because I think they’ll have a hit on their hands. FINAL SCORE: 7.5 out of 10.
