As far as suspense-horror shorts go, Quick Shop manages to deliver the familiar while still leaving a few unpredictable moments. For a sub-15 minute experience, you can forgive the lack of character expansion or explanations of events; this feels like it would be the second 15 minutes of a much more in-depth feature, or maybe even the opening bits. That is to say, when the short does find its resolution, there is an ambiguity there that could be fleshed into something larger, and I’d still be watching.
Quick Shop is a fine standalone effort, but it definitely feels like a calling card for filmmaker Martin Binder, something that says, “hey, look at this story… look what I did, now let me show you what else I can do.” And I’d certainly be on board to see what Biinder comes up with next, or even, again, watch a feature version that expands upon the story elements in this short. This isn’t the greatest short film I’ve ever seen, or even terribly exceptional, but it is competent and interesting enough to bring me along for the ride, and that’s not something to be dismissed.
I wasn’t too keen on the visuals, it had a very dirty, non-HD video look to it that I’m somewhat willing to ignore because it could be anything from the compression on the DVD screener to just a poor video output (and you can see what I’m talking about in the trailer below). While I’m all for grit and grime, this felt more like a failure of the medium it was shot in than a conscious visual decision. The look of it isn’t what kept me interested in the first place, sure, but it definitely could’ve benefited from better cinematography or equipment. Of course, if IMDb is to be believed, and the budget was actually around $500… well, that makes sense.
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