REVIEW: The Return
I was finally able to watch a short zombie flick called The Return by director Elli Raynai. Now, this movie proved to be a lot of trouble in trying to play it but I finally got it to work and after seeing it I have to say… I enjoyed it. The Return is simply about teen that escapes his home out of rebellion but unfortunately gets bit by a zombie right outside of his house. A year has past since the parents of the young man saw their kid alive until he returns back to their home as a zombie. The parents welcome their zombie son back with opens arms but the he is not really in a good forgiving mood.
The one thing that I noticed off the bat was the special effects and it’s funny how the production company is named A Little FX. The dream sequence has an okay use of CGI to show the dinner guests’ rotting green flesh and the whole room begins to movie around. However, many people may have a problem with digital zombie makeup. For a short indie film, it’s fine but it should be avoided at most times. But, the makeup on the other two zombies was pretty good for what it was worth.
I really enjoyed the characters and they are both likable and believable. The two that come to mind is the father and his son. The father being the kind of person that is somewhat the enemy to his son but wants to talk things over, and the son being the kind of person that wants to go his own way. Even as a zombie the son is likable and you are waiting for him to do something to his parents. You immediately connect with them and for a shot story, there is a lot of development.
There is even a slight sense of dark comedy in The Return as well. One scene in particular is when the mother is talking to her friend when suddenly; her zombie son pops out of nowhere and starts eating her friend. The mother is horrified until she notices that it’s actually here son and she smiles and offers to help him warm up in their home. This scene and the scene where a random zombie attacks the son and turns him into a zombie, allude to the idea that this neighborhood is infested with zombies and the neighborhoods lives and deals with them on a daily basis. It’s pretty funny to think that “Oh, zombies in the street, what else is new?â€
Overall, it’s a pretty good movie. The only real complaint that I had was the voice-over work done on the zombie son… it sounded too much like a voice-over. I understand that it is an indie movie and I am not going to let that one thing bring the whole movie down, it’s just something that should be noted. If you are looking for a really good zombie short, give this one a shot. It’s well worth the 9 minutes.
Official A Little FX webpage here.
Official The Return webpage here.
