From the brilliant mind of Christopher Alan Broadstone, director of My Skin! and Scream For Me, comes his third and quite definitely his most strange installment to his catalogue of award winning short films.  Though still quite a shocking and mind bending short, I feel the first two are a bit more superior.  Still well worth the buy and a watch.  Black Cab Productions presents:

 

 

     Once again actor Tony Simmons (Scream For Me and My Skin!) appears in a Chris Broadstone film, this time not a deranged pervert, nor Death, but as a detective (Detective Nemo) seemingly on the brink of madness.  Who am I kidding, he is definitely a bit loony, but there is reason for this madness.  His wife and fairly new born child were viciously murdered.  In the dark dingy basement of what looks like a warehouse or maybe a run down apartment building, Detective Nemo has, what looks like, an office set up.  The walls of this room decorated with Christian artifacts and photos, among these holy items are photos of his dead wife and child.

 

     IN this room he plays a tape of a psychotic being interrogated, the voice of the criminal has a very demonic tone to it.  After watching a few times I assumed the voice is that of the man who committed the violent crimes against his family.  After the playing of the tape, Nemo sets up a video camera and tri-pod, then hits record.  He proceeds to explain how his family was killed and he has nothing else to live for.  He feels also that he is being watched, a strange presence rotates around the room, he knows its there and describes it as the beast (Satan).  All the while a strange sound surrounding him and consuming the room, probably the beast.

 

     During the taping he explains that “There’s no up, There’s no Down, when God and the Devil tare apart the man in between”.  Upon saying this he explains how he chooses to be a mercenary “for sense and for reason” and choosing to be Human no More.  I take it he just wants to roam the earth, not dead, not alive, just there to take out the trash.  But this is an assumption, I’m sure other viewers may see and take what is said differently from myself.  Nemo wants his soul and mind to go to God, but to the Devil he gives his pain, something God will not posses.  Unknowing which way he will go, up or down, he makes his choice, the choice to take his life.  For the viewing of the beast and the eye of the camera he proceeds to take from himself the one thing that continues to make him human, his heart.

 

     From this point in the film it is apparent he has received his wish.  A heartless man, ready for whatever will come his way.

      For screenplay and Direction I give an 8.  A brilliant film, but like I said at first watch I didn’t really get what they were trying to give.  After a second viewing it was much more understandable.  Once again, I feel after two other phenomenal short films, Chris Broadstone could have had a bit more creativity with this one.  But in no way was it bad.  Still quite creative and unlike anything else I have viewed.  A compelling story with a sick twist.  Broadstone is a definite visionary and this shows in each one of his films.

 

     For Acting I give a 10.  Once again Tony Simmons is a pleasure to watch.  Being the second film with only him actually being seen acting, its astounding how he can push his talents with nobody else to physically interact with.  Just him and a camera, that’s all it took for this film to achieve its goal.  Other credits are given to the voices on the machine, voiced over by Cole Adam Buisson, and Tony Simmons.  Also credited are Green Whitaker, as the wife in the photo and Evan Susswood, the baby in the photos. 

 

     For Cinematography I give a 9.  Still with this third film, the camera work is fantastic.  Both clean and grimy.  Yes its possible!  The visuals from the eyes of the beast were outstanding and not to mention creepy.  Once again a definite no fail for camera work.

 

     For the FX I give a 6.  In this I have to include some of the visuals.  The presence in the room roaming around, corner to corner and high to low, were outstanding.  Though it had great visuals there was little blood or gore.  With the exception of the self removal of Nemos heart, which could’ve been a bit more visually violent (the camera was used to make it seem more violent than it was, but didn’t quite work for the scene).  We also had quick glimpses of the dead wife and child, both pretty basic but did the job well.  Though you don’t always need gore or lots of blood, the heart scene could have been extremely disturbing, I do feel Chris went the wrong route with that one.  Though the others were more mentally deranged, they didn’t need blood or gore to effect the mind of the viewer, this one needed it, at least in this one scene.

 

     Now as for the movie overall, Human No More gets my rating of an 8.  Like I had mentioned, this film is definitely not his best, but still a must see for any fans of his work.  Its still Mind Bending and twisted in its own way.  I do hope for more films from Chris Broadstone very soon, there is much talent and I’m sure many more intense and insane thoughts in his head that need to be set free and put to film for us to view.