THE SEATTLE FILM FESTIVAL 2026 REVIEW! ACB-223 started as a high school project for its young writer, director, and co-star, Quinn Topper Marcus. The short’s ambition and reach just kept growing as he created it. Along with his father, Kipp Marcus, who portrays the titular android, they found an almost 19-minute cut that conveys just about everything they were hoping for. But is it conveyed in a way that general audiences will appreciate?
ACB-223 (Kipp Marcus) fancies himself something of an Earth historian. As the android travels the globe in search of people, he gives Johnny Carson-esque monologues about “the art” and what it meant to humans. The first person ACB-223 finds, a ballerina, he dispatches with a hammer, but only after watching her dance for a moment. If ACB-223 is so enamored with human culture, why is he killing them?
ACB-223 (Kipp Marcus) drags a skeleton along a winding boardwalk in this overhead shot from ACB-223.
“As the android travels the globe in search of people, he gives Johnny Carson-esque monologues about ‘the art’ and what it meant to humans.”
ACB-223 oozes style in every way. Each kill is presented in a different way. The ballerina scene is very Giallo. The pianist segment is Hitchcockian with its one long take. The impressive part is that the director makes each of these elements feel distinct yet part of the same whole. It certainly helps that the cinematography is amazing. The film switches from black-and-white to color, and is always beautiful. The camera soars, zooms, and pans elegantly across a bleak landscape. Human destruction has never looked so good.
Kipp Marcus moves in such a wild way as the killer robot. It is very mannered but so quick and odd that it is very obvious this character is not human. His Carson laugh is a thing to behold. The rest of the cast is fine, but Marcus is a revelation here.
ACB-223 is picture proof that money does not make a good film. So long as one has the talent and drive, nothing can stop them from making their art. Quinn Topper Marcus did not let anything stop him, and at just 18 years old, he has delivered one of the most visually engaging shorts I have seen in a long, long time.
ACB-223 screened at the 2026 The Seattle Film Festival.
"…one of the most visually engaging shorts I have seen in a long, long time."
