Using a lot of the usual elements of the horror arena to its advantage, “We All Fall Down” is a well-crafted short piece about a tragic killing at the hands of stupidity. Four college kids getting wasted in an old classic car decide to pull next to an innocent little schoolgirl in an attempt to get a few laughs by picking on her. Not paying attention, probably because the amount of Budweiser in his gullet, the driver of the car turns a tad too wide and the girl is crushed.
Opting not to get the girl proper medical attention, they decide to take her body to a nearby abandoned warehouse, where they remove her teeth, cover her with plastic, and leave her there to rot. Five years later, the group discovers that the building is scheduled for demolition so they must return to re-hide the body before anybody knows it’s missing.
But is she dead, or isn’t she? That’s just part of the fun of watching this piece. The rest comes from the brilliant sound mix that will no doubt cause you to clench your mouth shut every time the sledge hammer smacks down on teeth or a saw ravages a forearm.
Jake Kennedy (writer/director) exercises his familiarity of the genre well, incorporating cliché into originality with perfection and understanding. Rumor has it that Kennedy turned this story into a feature length screenplay that has now been optioned by a certain known someone’s production company. Since “We All Fall Down” is only a few minutes long, it’s easy to see what areas can be worked on and strengthened in order to keep it interesting for 2 hours.
With that said, “We All Fall Down” is a subtly violent and tense little short with better acting skills and camera work than most Hollywood horror features these days. So watch out Victor Salva (“Jeepers Creepers”), Jake Kennedy is a new face in town that’ll hopefully send you back to the Boy Scouts and out of our theaters.
