‘Survivalismo’ is a short film by Jose Pedro Lopes of Anexo 82 Productions (follow him on Twitter @zecopeco) shown at the Abertoir Horror Festival this year. Short films are a relatively new medium for me to review so bear with me.
The film confronts the viewer with a man in a hellish situation – he is perched on a chair, a bag around his head and a noose around his neck. He is alone in what appears to be an abandoned warehouse and throughout the course of the film must come to terms with why he is there and perhaps more importantly, does he deserve it?
The concept of the film largely concerns the man coming to terms with his situation and much of the inspiration of this is taken from the Kubler-Ross school of thought of stages of grief. The stages include denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance and all certainly play out in the film. What is really remarkable about this is that even with the short 9 minute timescale none of these stages feel rushed and all add to the intensity. The performance of the lead enhances this further and even without seeing his face you do feel a connection to him.
What begins as an individual facing his own inevitable death becomes a larger metaphor for all loss and grief. There are many times in life where we ask ‘Why me?’ and this film deals with those feelings of judgement that arise when those things happen. I won’t reveal all about this film as it is a much more interesting and shocking experience.
I am very excited about the next project from Anexo 82 Productions and you should definitely look them up and see ‘Survivalismo’ however you can. Thank you to Jose Pedro Lopes for the opportunity to review this wonderful bite-size piece of intensity.
scaredsheepless 