Director – John Ferrer (Trial 22, The Milk Situation)
Starring – Judah Abraham-Silas, Charlie Clee (The Private, World’s Most Evil Killers), and Peter Dombi (The Flowerman, The Queue)
Release Date – 2024
Rating – 3.5/5
I may have bit off more than I can chew with my month long horror binge. Right as the month began I was approached by Dark Red Film Fest to review their current selection of films for their film fest. I was reluctant at first but decided to add them to my watch list.
I was expecting a few films but I had no idea there would be as many as they actually had. After watching a few films it was time to dig into a few of their official selections. The first one on the chopping block was 1 Star Review. While the title did not stir up any excitement, the short itself really packed a punch. I want to thank Dark Red for reaching out to me to check this one out.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a chef who invited a woman to his restaurant late at night to try one of his dishes. Unbeknownst to her, he holds a grudge against those that give him poor reviews and she had given him one sometime ago. **Spoiler Alert**
1 Star Review is one of the few films that really embodies it’s title. Not that it deserves a 1 star, because it doesn’t, but because the premise of this short is summed up perfectly by it. Honestly, I can’t believe we haven’t seen a thriller or horror film in this modern era of Yelp, Google Reviews, and so on. It’s a great idea and works so well as a short.
The acting in this one is fantastic. The entire cast shines regardless if you are the chef killing people with poor taste or a helpless victim. It’s a great cast and everyone pulls their weight, so to speak.
The story for this one is a lot of fun and works so well as a short. The film runs for less than 10 minutes but in that time we get some character development and a body count. While it does make great use of it’s time, it would not be as effective as it is if the run time was to be extended.
Finally, the film has some blood and a few deaths require you to use your imagination but it all works together to create an effective horror short. While I would have loved some gore, it doesn’t necessarily need it to be good. Overall, 1 Star Review is a well made short that really scratches an itch I didn’t know I had. While most shorts could easily be expanded upon and turned into a feature, this one is damn near perfect as a short and would be spread too thin if stretched to a feature run time. Check it out.
