In Traycee King and Monique Efta’s sci-fi short, Project N-Terro: The Yellow Pill, the year is 2165, and America is a shell of itself. Ravaged by the AI revolution, humanity is fractured into subdivisions defined by class and trauma. One unexpected byproduct of this upheaval: people diagnosed with ADHD carry an abnormally high concentration of mirror neurons, giving them a range of psychic abilities. The government wasted no time exploiting this. Neuroengineers at Neuro-Terrain Recovery Operations — better known as NTRO — synthesized those neurons into a drug called “The Yellow Pill,” designed to loosen the minds of violent offenders and make them easier to interrogate. But the side effects were brutal, and as human trafficking and murder tore through the population, The Yellow Pill was banned. Of course, this is America, where the rules are privileges, not guarantees.
Tarra (Casey Cuellar) is an NTRO operative, a double agent who has undergone the program’s rigorous training and sanitization process to become a neural link interrogator. Before heading in for her latest assignment, she connects with her closest ally, Eve (Traycee King), the two women steadying each other before the job ahead. Tarra is sharp, focused, and battle-hardened, but the weight she carries beneath the surface is unmistakable. Her handler, Brimstone (Joel Anderson), oversees her operations and keeps a careful eye on the mission’s priorities. Tarra is one of the few people who can handle the yellow pill, making her perfect for covert missions.
“People diagnosed with ADHD carry an abnormally high concentration of mirror neurons, giving them a range of psychic abilities.”
Brimstone calls Tarra and Eve in for a prep meeting and lays out the mission in three parts: locate the Flesh Circus, a sinister human trafficking operation; get names of the major players behind it; and identify any connection to politician Nathan Birsha, a man with deep and dangerous ties. The target is Chad (Jed Rowen), a violent offender believed to hold the key to all three. Tarra will swallow the yellow pill, enter Chad’s mind via a neural link, and extract the information. What she doesn’t know going in — and what Brimstone failed to mention until the last possible moment — is that there is more to Chad than he is letting on.
Writer and producer Traycee King drew from deeply personal territory to build the world of Project N-Terro: The Yellow Pill. A military veteran who was reactivated after 9/11 and eventually medically discharged, King said the film grew out of her military experience and the catharsis that art can provide. The themes explored in Project N-Terro surround government-sanctioned programs that exploit individuals for the greater good, the psychological cost of carrying out orders, and the way systemic trauma is passed down and weaponized. Project N-Terro is pretty incredible as a sci-fi short film. Along with director Monique Efta, Traycee King sets the film’s dystopian tone right off the bat. Creating imperfect “archival” footage of past news events sets the perfect visual tone for the rest of the short. What starts off as a stylized futuristic setting then turns into an eye-averting torture scene at the end. The make-up effects are on point.
Project N-Terro: The Yellow Pill is a gritty, well-crafted sci-fi short that leaves you wanting more. Director Monique Efta and Traycee King have built something worth watching.
"…What starts off as a stylized futuristic setting then turns into an eye-averting torture scene at the end."
