A stalker lurking in the shadows is a creepy thing to deal with. Now, add a crazy boyfriend and strap in for a wild ride in Cody MacDonald’s short film, Dark Love.
Shay (Jayme Winick) and James (Richard Maxwell) have been dating for a while, and they enjoy doing what couples do: going on walks, long talks, etc. However, the mysterious Matthew (Hunter Birch) is off in the distance, laser-focused on the couple’s every move. Matthew strikes up a conversation with the unsuspecting Shay.
“…the mysterious Matthew is off in the distance, laser-focused on the couple’s every move.”
The encounter is friendly enough, but Shay quickly mentions meeting her boyfriend for dinner. Dark Love builds its suspense at this fateful dinner when the virginal Shay is not ready to go to the “next level” with the now sexually frustrated James and culminates with a knock at the door by Matthew.
The film is a low-budget indie thriller by writer/director MacDonald. If I were to nitpick, the sound should have been cleaner and more explicit, and there seemed to be a few jumps in the story that could have made the narrative run smoother. However, despite the nitpicks, the “things are not as they seem” story plays out wonderfully in the end.
On the bright side, considering Dark Love was shot with a tight crew, MacDonald uses everything the city offers in terms of production design. Despite a hiccup here and there, the filmmaker also does an equally good job with the storytelling. The editing is quite exceptional in the fight scene, adding a great deal of punch to the final cut.
"…does an equally good job with the storytelling."
