Aaaron Alexander’s Bad River is a stark crime drama short. Beaver (Alex Knight) is a small-time criminal living with his girlfriend Mel (Isabel Chavez ) who works doing online porn. He has stumbled into a job delivering bespoke snuff films to an unsavory clientele. His partner in crime, Exum (Travis Hammer), rides along as backup while making the drops. When corrupt Sheriff Hawkins (Luce Rains) catches them with the video thumb drives, rather than bring them to justice, he blackmails them into even dirtier deeds that he would prefer to keep at arm’s length himself.
The production and performances are high quality, particularly for a budget-constrained indie short. Bad River artfully establishes the characters, world, and dramatic tone with a distinct gritty, dark style. There are interesting visual touchstones offered as well. The opening shot is reminiscent of the first minutes of Twin Peaks. Travis Hammer’s Exum character has a dissociated, flat affect similar to Rust Cohle, as played by Matthew McConaughey in True Detective. Hammer also bears an uncanny resemblance to the late great Bill Paxton in his appearance, voice, and physical mannerisms. Should anyone ever undertake a biopic of Paxton, Hammer would be an inspired casting choice.
“… Beaver has stumbled into a job delivering bespoke snuff films …”
Bad River is compelling enough to leave the audience wanting more. This is good and bad, as the film has no resolution. In an intensely dramatic, high-stakes moment the credits roll just as the story seems primed to take off. You might throw something at the screen. The good is that the viewer buys in and fully engages. The bad, of course, is that you get dropped on your head abruptly before any narrative threads are explored. Another minor misstep to note is that the title does not build a distinct online identity: google search for Bad River surfaces a 2024 documentary with the same name, which follows a Wisconsin indigenous tribe’s fight to protect Lake Superior.
In his submission notes, Alexander says the short film is meant as a teaser and calling card for the feature he hopes to make: “… a proof-of-concept short for a planned feature-length crime drama, for which a completed screenplay exists.” This has been done before, notably when Billy Bob Thornton and George Hickenlooper made the 1994 short Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade, that did have a satisfactory conclusion. That short was expanded into the award-winning feature Sling Blade.
While this is an excellent way to demonstrate your art and skill to an investor, having the film end on a “to be continued” cliffhanger is a bad experience. A viewer may not ever get to see how it plays out. In an age of instant gratification streaming binge watching, this is particularly frustrating. Ideally Alexander will find the funding needed for a feature length continuation of the narrative and then send it along for a review so we can see what happens.
"…Crime drama short with a distinct gritty, dark style"
