From the mind of multi-talented artist and filmmaker Gabriel Sabloff comes a new horror short with twists you don’t see coming and that keep you guessing until the very end. Starring Bill Oberst Jr., Ciddy Fonteboa, D.T. Carney and Steel Chambers alongside other well known and upcoming actors, ‘The Curse’ tells a brilliantly visualized and acted out urban tale of evil, putting it high up on our must-watch list.
Evil has escaped. The bearer of an ancient curse hunts down his nemesis in the darkest corners of Los Angeles. Living silently among us are the bearers of THE CURSE. Men and women doomed to walk the earth, hungering for human souls and endowed with powerful psychic abilities. Midian, the strongest of the cursed lawmen returns from exile to hunt down a dangerous supernatural fugitive.
‘The Curse’ begins in a dark and gloomy atmosphere somewhere in a run down industrial part of Los Angeles at night. After the first scenes you think you have it all figured out and know where this story is going – except there seems something slightly odd about the whole situation. What initially happens to Dona (Ciddy Fonteboa) is what anyone would expect a regular girl to encounter in that neighborhood at that time of night. Enter Midian (Bill Oberst Jr.) and Wraithe (Pam Levin) deep in conversation about a supernatural danger that threatens the city, and you know this is not going to end well. Even after watching ‘The Curse’ you won’t be able to tell who is good and who is evil. Only that much is clear: you want more.
With his cinematography, Gebriel Sabloff, who also directed and wrote ‘The Curse’, sets the stage for a dark and looming supernatural story with the first sparingly lit scene and maintains it successfully throughout the ten minute short. Progressing from panoramic shots of an onlookers’ perspective, the audience is increasingly drawn into the plot by intense closeups revealing the emotions of the characters and their inner workings. Keeping the settings clean and simplistic, and avoiding crowded or overloaded backdrops, the viewer is effectively focused on the characters.
With its cast comprised of seasoned actors and newcomers alike, ‘The Curse’ is all about the actors ability to portrait their respective character – a task the whole cast masters beautifully. While the spoken lines are not to be ignored, what is audibly expressed is superseded by the visual portrayal. Gabriel pushes this fact to the point where, what in most other films would be a dialogue between Midian (Bill Oberst Jr.) and Wraithe (Pam Levin), turns into a background narrative, leaving Pam and Bill with the task to act the dialogue without saying a word – a situation they both master brilliantly.
There is a lot more we could tell you about ‘The Curse’, but it is a film after all. So go and see it when you have the chance. ‘The Curse’ has the clear potential and the right ingredients to become a feature film, which puts it right up there at the top of our must-watch list.
Your next chance to see ‘The Curse’ will be on Friday, August 10, at 9:00pm. ‘The Curse’ is an Official Selection of the Hollyshorts Film Festival and will screen at the Chinese 6 theater.
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Release Date: (TBA)
Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Gabriel Sabloff
Author: Gabriel Sabloff
Cast:
Ciddy Fonteboa – Dona Sonya
Bill Oberst Jr. – Midian
David Anthony Hernandez – Cole
D.T. Carney – Dante
Dontreal Bacon – Tugg
Steel Chambers – Meat
Brian Turner – Viktor
Chaz Taylor – Limo Driver
Erin Cecilia Pfeifer – Crack Whore
Charles Trebino – Skinhead
Jeff Winkler – Skinhead
Chris Marshall – Skinhead
Bruce Spaulding Fuller …
Pam Levin – Wraithe
Jonathan Tabado – Street Thug