Written by Mercies May and director Robert Flowers, Honor’s Half-Life begins with Grace (Kyra Wellington) and her disapproving father, Joe (Alex Petrovich), are driving down a secluded road. They are going to make a surprise visit to Joe’s old Special Forces buddy, Roy (Greg DeHetre). When they arrive, Joe pulls his semi-automatic rifle from the back of his pickup truck and gives Grace a handgun as backup.
As the duo enters Roy’s home, Joe has a Geiger counter strapped to his rifle, and it’s going off. When they start searching the house, they come across several fried-to-death bodies. Joe knows this is Roy’s doing, and it looks like Joe and Grace are going to hunt him down. When they spot Roy, scarred from radiation burns, Grace takes an overwatch position with Joe’s rifle, and if there’s trouble, she will need to take out Roy with one clean shot. The problem for Grace is that her father is hiding a secret, and only Roy knows what it is.
“…the duo enters Roy’s home, Joe has a Geiger counter strapped to his rifle, and it’s going off.”
Honor’s Half-Life takes us into a not-so-distant dystopian future and, like other stories in this genre, tests our morality and our humanity by pushing its protagonists to their limits. They all ask the same question: What would you do? This short sci-fi horror film asks how far you would go to save yourself, the ones you love, and the civilization as we know it, in a needs-of-the-few type scenario.
Flowers knows exactly how to handle this delicate story. Born out of the COVID lockdown, the project came together when Flowers met May and producer Gavin Michael Booth on social media. After getting to know each other, these strangers decided to make a short film together in Ontario. Their passion for the project is evident throughout. These three strangers somehow managed to get on the same page and produce a gorgeous film filled with tension, using what few resources they had to tell their dystopian story. Even the props and special effects look fantastic.
Honor’s Half-Life shows that great storytelling isn’t done in isolation. It’s a team project where members inspire one another to reach their full potential. Now let’s see what their feature film will look like.
"…great storytelling isn't done in isolation."
