Love knows no bounds, as most of us would do anything in the name of love… really, anything? Loyalty and love is the idea behind Dinh Thai and Ivan Tsang’s horror-comedy short, Make A Wish.
When Freddie (Edward Hong) arrives home for the evening, awaiting him is a birthday surprise he’ll never forget. His partner, Lexie (Josephine Chang), greets him with a traditional 30th birthday cake and a gift in the living room. The gift is Freddie’s childhood bully (Roman Moretti), bound, gagged, and ready for carving.
“… Freddie’s childhood bully, bound, gagged, and ready for carving.”
Make A Wish is a solid piece of sketch comedy with an excellently creepy setup and a nice tight punchline. This eight-minute short also sports good performances from Hong, Chang, and Moretti. I especially like how Moretti’s character takes no practical steps to receive any mercy from Freddie and the nice accent of macabre in Chang’s performance.
I feel like short theatrical and festival films, like Make A Wish, must elevate their game to distinguish themselves from YouTube fodder. If I could make a wish for Make A Wish, it would be that the filmmakers pushed either the narrative or the horror further. I would have liked to see the gore elements taken to an extreme level, or build some horrifying backstory for Lexie. Otherwise, solid effort all around.
"…an excellently creepy setup and a nice tight punchline."
