DEAD AIR (SHORT) / DIRECTOR: GEOFF HARMER / SCREENPLAY: PETER HEARN / STARRING: KATE DAVIES-SPEAK, CHARLIE BOND, STACY HART, JOHANNA STANTON / RELEASE DATE: TBC
An all-female punk group named Monster Kitten are on their way to their final gig – but is it also their final night alive as the plane is infested with a sinister cargo in the brilliant short film Dead Air.
This passion project by filmmakers Geoff Harmer and Peter Hearn was crowdfunded by the wonderful supporters of Indie film and is a love letter to classic horror-comedies with a heavy reliance on practical effects which keeps this 16-minute ride grounded in a sense of fantastical realism.
Short films are arguably one of the hardest forms of movies to produce as you have a very limited time to get across your story or message – so when one accomplishes that to great effect and also has the potential to be a feature-length adventure, you know that they’ve done it right.
Throughout its runtime, you receive a great sense of chemistry and tension between the band members and their management – especially between The Singer (Charlie Bond) and The Co-Pilot (James Hamer-Morton) – and once the chaos erupts as the vicious cargo is unleashed, it truly feels like a neat little mash-up of Gremlins and Airplane.
Dead Air is a terrific short film with bags of potential for a feature-length outing with great performances that only scratch the surface of what these fantastic actresses are capable of.
