"BURST" - A Film by Joe Begos

Yeah, Escape from the Past had exploding heads caused by time travel.

Now with Monsterfest we are in our comfort zone. We hoped to have made something even more fun and over the top for you guys. Hope you dig it.
 
sounds pretty badass to me. wicked stills, can't wait to check this one. looks pretty violent, judging by your last entry (escape from the past) this one should prove to be pretty kick a**. looking forward to it. :violent5:
 
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Good camera work and sound in this, lead acting was good although I thought that the detective was unconvincing. What was with the really old tape recorder?

The biggest let down was that we didnt see even a hint of the monster. Even a small monster shot at the end would have really sold this.
 
Where was the monster? We never saw it.
It looked EXCELLENT. Loved the color grading and the blood looked amazing... but we knew that from your screen shots :)

I thought the acting during the interrogation was a bit stiff. I also thought the guy being interrogated was exceptionally calm, which I might have written off at the end knowing the monster had "infested" him, but that doesn't explain why he was so calm when his friend was basically turning into a puddle of blood in his kitchen.

I thought the music and sound was good, though some of the sound didn't seem to always "fit" what we were seeing.

Best line though - "What burst out of his head???!!!"

Also... why does the interrogator freak out SO soon... the minute the guy spits blood he's screaming like a maniac...

Unfortunately, I couldn't score it very high since we never saw a monster. Despite my criticisms, I did enjoy watching it, and you get more of a thumbs up than thumbs down.
 
This was a fun movie. Even though the movies are completely different, it made me think of the movie Splinter. I really liked the handheld camerawork throughout the flashbacks. I felt that it added a bit of intensity to the piece, but I felt that it would have been more effective if the interrogation scenes were shot on a tripod to give it some separation from the flashback sequences. Your pacing was excellent and I really liked your sound design. Good work!
 
The camerawork, editing, and style were all very strong here. The intro really got me excited to see the rest of the film. The special effects/blood work was great. The letdown for me was the interrogation scenes. The writing was weak, and I think you were trying to compensate for the fact that it's mainly exposition by having the interrogator get ridiculously intense. It just seemed far too over the top. I think if you had spent more time in the flashbacks and less in the interrogation room, it would have worked better for me.

You've got the technical aspects down pat, I'd just work more on refining your writing.
 
I also enjoyed this film. The intro was excellent! The interrogation scene was okay. The acting could have been better. The victim I felt should have been more upset about his friend getting snatched or he should have been numb and in shock about everything. The handheld stuff was great with the action and I like how you pulled off the bursts. I did like the angles you had in the interrogation, but I felt the camera was too shaky during that scene. I think it would have been a perfect contrast with the interrogation shot really clean on a tripod and the action handheld. Just my opinion on that. The lighting was good and so was the story and the score. Good concept and well done.
 
Good work on this one. Felt like the opening to an X-Files episode. I think we all have a "something bursting out of somebody" project in a notebook somewhere, always glad to see someone bring it to fruition.

The interrogation room scene didn't work for me. It's pretty much a staple of television and film crime-dramas and from the acting perspective, you expect a certain "maturity" to the scene. Not that I'm saying the scenes in your film our immature, but rather, the actor didn't have a certain "presence" about him that he needed to pull it off convincingly. It's a casting thing, not necessarily a script thing.

Some great creeped-out moments in this one, and I really like the scene where the creature yanks the girl out of the car. Good stuff!

Good job. Thanks for sharing!
 
I liked this film. The interogator wasn't as believable, but who cares? It was a hoot. And NO you don't need to see the monster, what we did see was great. This ranks high among my favorites. Good job.
 
Cool flick and cool concept. The interrogator just needed to be slapped and given a ritalin. There was no need for him to be as upset as he was unless we got part of the story cut out due to time constraints? He would have been much more effective as a calm office and as his arc progressed, have him get more and more irritated.

Otherwise, nicely shot and great fx.

Thanks for entering!
/j
 
I thought the beginning was good, you gave us something to explore in what happened to his friend.

The moment you lost me was once you started filming in the apartment. Then it was just 'off' a bit. It's not plausible for someone's friend to make that much noise and you don't get up right away UNLESS you are drunk or high. That wasn't real to me.

The interrogator also was over the top. The clunky footsteps in the garage, he is wearing sneakers but the footsteps sounded like he was wearing boots.

I expected the guy didn't escape from the creature, but for me, the creature is more implied and I would have liked to have seen 'something' even a glimpse of something.
 
Thanks for all the comments- I love the comment about how it reminded somebody of Splinter- I love that flick!

I agree about the detective losing his cool a little early on. I didn't want these two guys sitting across from each other going back and forth, as I wanted a fast intense pace to hold up throughout the whole time so I was trying to make it a bit more interesting, but in retrospect it feels like he peaks to early.

I also decided against showing a monster since we didn't have the budget or talent to pull it off convincingly, so I tried to use as much with in camera effects and sound design to really sell the monster. Pulled some stuff from the old Raimi bag of tricks. Glad you guys are digging it so far.

Thanks everybody for watching.
 
I had a good time watching this film. You know the drill and you took advantage your tools of the trade. The actors are acceptable, but not convincing, but yet again, your film is about the unbelievable, so who cares? All that matters is engaging the audience and you succeeded.
 
That was pretty crazy. But what was the little black creature that was attacking them? And why did their head start to burst in the first place? I didn't understand why. The handheld camera shots at the beginning were too shaky for me. Your audio was and color grade was really good. You're special makeup, blood was aweseme! Actors were decent. Good entertainment!
 
Sometimes I guess it comes down to weighing the pros and cons of what you have access to. When you don't have Rick Baker or KNB accessible in your budget, what's a worse comment, "I never saw the monster" or "Your monster costume was lame". I would always side with "never saw", because that still leaves the viewers imagination open to much more than what's possible with fishing twine and a Trojan Magnum filled with Jell-O, spray painted black with some hair gel dripping from it. I can't count how many times I've finished a movie and wished that they had simply not shown the monster, rather than what it ended up looking like.
 
Sound seems to be an issue I keep bringing up but maybe it's because I'm listening with headphones. When the voices come in and out sharply it's a little distracting.
This movie wasn't terrible in that department though and I'm nitpicking a little.

The acting was pretty good, save the over the top reaction at the end. I also though the guy should have checked out what was wrong with his buddy far sooner.

The music was great and some of the camera work was really nice. Some really gory effects too. Definitely engaging.

MAH
 
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