Two journalists set out to make a documentary investigating an urban legend serial killer.
1230 Hopewell Road starts off with various shots of a rundown middle of nowhere town. After two minutes of scenery, we are taken into a dark apartment with a drunken man watching porn and yelling on the phone about his ex-girlfriend to an unknown person on the other side. This particular scene sets the tone for the rest of the short.
Next, our main character is in a drinking montage. As he comes back from the bar, he checks his mail to find a videotape with a note with the words “watch me” written on it. My first thought when this happens is, “who still has a VCR and who uses VHS tapes anymore? What if the drunk guy doesn’t have a VCR?” After that initial thought, I then questioned what year this 15-minute long film takes place. Well, my questions are answered as the drunken guy puts the videotape in his VCR, and it reveals his ex-girlfriend attempting to make a documentary about a sex serial killer in 2020. Yeah, it’s 2020, and a VCR and a video cassette are the keys to finding out what happened to his ex.
“…it’s 2020, and a VCR and a video cassette are the keys to finding out what happened to his ex.”
As the video goes on, the footage of the documentary turns into a video of a kidnapping and possible murder. You don’t get to see any brutal murders, but what you do see are pornographic bondage clips. The footage begins to resemble a Marilyn Manson or Nine Inch Nails music video from the early 2000s. Unfortunately, how the video ends is pretty anti-climactic.
1230 Hopewell Road isn’t for everyone – it definitely wasn’t for me. A lot of the lighting created issues rather than providing an effective horror tone. Most of the time, I could not see what exactly was happening. In the end, it’s just another take on a found footage film, one that inexplicable uses a VCR and a videotape.
"…begins to resemble a Marilyn Manson or Nine Inch Nails music video..."
