Serial Review

Serial is a 2020 dark comedy short film Written and Directed by Joe Giambrone.

Serial is a short film whose greatest strength stands in the premise and execution in subverting the trope of the young sensuous couple killed by a serial killer. In making the wannabe killer a hapless, crochety old man it is actually the couple who upend all of our expectations.

The best moment of the film for me comes from when the old man or the Zodiac as portrayed by Don Cingrani quips that “there is no phone signal out here,” to which our young female protagonist Diane as portrayed by Kaxia Wilkens looks to her phone remarking “yeah I’ve got full bars actually,” to then immediately dial 911.

The acting is really well done and across the board all the characters stick the landing well in delivering a believable yet comical chain of events. As a compliment to this the audio mixing is really well managed in the piece too. The dialogue and ambience are balanced to a good polish.

Where I would say there is room for improvement in the piece falls into the cinematography. Many of the scenes at least on my screens were a little hard to see, and seemed a little underlit. Perhaps due to a location issue or having to move quickly with limited permit time as well this is something that I in no way hold against the film but I think it is worth at least a mention here. I think with just a little more time perhaps the lighting could have been boosted up some to add more clarity to the scenes.

Overall though I love the premise and the flipping the head on the killer style that this film employs. It is always fun getting a laugh in at the expense of someone who is so bad at trying to be threatening. The after credits scenes are really fun too so make sure to keep watching after the end.

Giambrone and team clearly have a good knack for writing, acting, and good audio design. I am excited to see what more projects they make in the future. In the meantime, though check out Serial if you haven’t had the chance to yet.

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Cheers!

Daniel

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