Director – Alex Thompson (Pills, Death Row Mama)
Starring – Celia Au (Asian Persuasion, Awkwafina is Nora from Queens), Chris Day (Wish Man, The Hunt with John Walsh), and Matthew Del Negro (American Horror Stories, Teen Wolf)
Release Date – 2018
Rating – 3/5
My Dark Red Film Festival marathon continues with another horror short that was sent my way with this years selections. I just finished the 2023 Spanish horror short Baba and wanted to keep the marathon going so I decided to fire up the 2018 horror short Black Dragon from filmmaker Alex Thompson. Like always, I want to thank the fine folks behind Dark Red Film Festival for sending this one my way.
**spoiler Alert** The film follows a group of soldiers in Vietnam who just captured a young woman. However, this is no regular woman. This female prisoner of war is able to bring the dead back to life. They decide to use her power to bring a fellow soldier back after seeing her resurrect a dead rat. However, doing so doesn’t miraculously heal their wounds and the dead soldier is brought back in excruciating pain. **Spoiler Alert**
Black Dragon is one that really caught me off guard. The poster and title had me thinking it was going to go in one direction but it did not. Instead, it was something completely different but it works. It does fall prey to Short Syndrome but that’s a good problem to have.
The acting in this one is great. It’s not a dialogue heavy film. In fact, the silence in this one speaks louder than the words. The cast does a phenomenal job at conveying their emotions and keeping it grounded. It doesn’t feel overdramatic or cheesy. Everyone has their own specific job to do and they did it.
The story for this one is very well written. A prisoner of war with the power to bring the dead back to life is pretty interesting especially when you consider the shape of the dead bodies found during wartime. However, I need more than what we were given. Who is the woman, who was the dead soldier, how did she get captured? I have so many questions that will never be answered.
Finally, the film has some impressive visual effects and some make-up effects but those looking for serious gore will be disappointed. Overall, Black Dragon is a a great short with an amazing story but I need more. The story is just too rich to contain in a short. Check it out if you can and be like me wanting more!
