"The Morning After" A sexy new horror film by Jeremy Poindexter

Matt Sconce's Review of The Morning After
*****POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW********

Script
Wonderful...loved the pacing, messages etc.
Acting
The girl did a great job!
Cinematography
You are a definite shooter. I enjoyed the angles you chose.
Editing
I liked the cuts and I liked the drowsyness of the pace.

Overall Impressions
I think this is one of the better done films of the fest. Congrats on shooting something different and awesome!
 
enjoyed this one. well shot with a clean image, nice story and good acting.

good job
 
I LOVED THIS FILM!

It's cute, clever, well-shot, well-acted (especially the voice acting), well-scored, unexpected, and unconventional. This is festival material! Plus, your actress is way hot (always a good thing)! It's definitely one of the most "finished" audience-ready films in the fest. Well done!
 
Lingothree said:
Mark Harris is naughty.
Click to expand...

I think your movie requires a little discussion too, lady. Send me your actress as well. And the make-up artist to do her up for me just like in the last scene. Grrrrrrrr.....

Updated my post, luster

M
 
Rezfactor said:
I LOVED THIS FILM!

It's cute, clever, well-shot, well-acted (especially the voice acting), well-scored, unexpected, and unconventional. This is festival material! Plus, your actress is way hot (always a good thing)! It's definitely one of the most "finished" audience-ready films in the fest. Well done!
Click to expand...

rezfactor: thanks for watching, and thanks for the support, it really means a lot, especially after seeing how beautifully you shot "runway"
 
desperatecomfort said:
Actually, this would be stupid of me to suggest edits. I think I get caught up sometimes in how I would make a movie.
Click to expand...

thanks for taking another look at the film - the pacing is definitely slower than a lot of other films in this fest, but i think it fits this film nicely.
 
UPDATE: I added a little review roundup and some links to the movie.

REVIEWS
This is festival material! It's definitely one of the most "finished" audience-ready films in the fest. -rezfactor

I think this is one of the better done films of the fest. Congrats on shooting something different and awesome! - msconce

I loved the ending. Way to bring it around full circle, and end the movie in a proper manner. -lingothree

I think this is the best example I've seen yet on how 'short films' are supposed to work. - geoff_R
http://dvxuser.mikkowilson.com/horrorfest/TheMorningAfter.mov
 
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Hi Luster

I saw your thread asking for more comments so I thought I'd take a stab.

The reason I havent commented before is simply because I didnt know what to say. You know when a film seems to do what it does well but it just isnt your bag ? so I have been reluctant to remark.

But here goes.

I like the fact you had the film play out with answer machine dialogue only. The rest is visual. That was very nice. It's underplayed and understated and I also liked that. It was one short here that wasnt afraid to take it's time. No cramming in war and peace into 6 mins....

But I have to say I found the whole thing a little flat. The short relies on the simple premise of 'shes brought this guy home to kill him - or has mostly killed him already'. Once you figure that out, there is nothing else to feed on. Since we have no informtaion about the girl, given no insight into her character or real motivation for doing this, it doesnt really have any high or lows? Equally we dont see him so no empathy is drawn for either character. Am I making any sense? The short came across as a statement rather than anything emotionally or dramatically engaging. There was no conflict, either inner, or outer. Maybe if she was in two minds, had a decision to make, or even if she regretted what she had done, or we felt something for the man instead - it would have given the film something for me at least to grab onto...

So as it stood it was more voyeuristic than anything - if thats your intention then I apologise. You did a fine job!

What was your intention with the short? what sort of reaction did you want from the audience?
 
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Hi again, luster... just checking out your film again.

I really do like the simplicity of the story. As I've said in an earlier post, I love the camera work for the most part. The scenes in the bathroom have too much zooms in and out for me. I imagine that there is a reason, because it only happens in the bathroom. Is there a connection here?

Also, I had stated that I didn't feel like she was sick and needed to throw-up. I felt differently the second time through. Maybe because I knew that is where she was headed. (I imagine that it is the direction to have her unemotional and why I didn't feel that she was sick. But I love the unemotional existence of her. It's what makes your film work.)

I love the reveal of Bobby on the buckle. Nice touch!

I don't like the color of your fake blood. It is too bright red. There is a very simple recipe for fake blood that looks great and is tasty!

Blood Recipe: corn syrup, chocolate syrup and red food dye. The chocolate syrup is what gives the dark, deep color that is missing.

I love the music that accompanies the film. Playful, like the story...

I just read darklines review above (something that I don't like to do before I critique) but I have to agree with him on the issue of "conflict."

To me, even in a simple story, conflict is what drives a film and keeps a viewer's attention.

All in all, I still like this film a lot. I love the cinematography and the use of the message machine to establish the information that we need.

Congratulations on your work!

Ted
 
From a technical POV, it was all groovy.

That last phone call right at the end, that was the moment I was hoping for a twist in the tale. Perhaps Bobby was innocent, and it was some other guy, or even herself who did all those bruises.

Either way, I was hoping for a final TWIST at the end, something that makes you think crap after what she did.

On another plus side, all the actresses sounded totally natural over the phone, so that's cool.

EJ
 
Ok I liked this one pretty good.. like the music . like the answering machine doing the story telling. I liked to overall look and feel. Bedroom scenes looked really good. the bathroom scenes where ok.. The wack a mole scene made an interesting floral pattern on the wall :)

Thanks for calling and sharing..
 
Thanks for the comments guys. They are truly helpful.

I like to be subtle in my writing, and sometimes I think this leaves some people feeling like there's nothing there. I think about half of the people who watch this don't get the fact that there is a huge chance that the Bobby character actually raped the girl the night before. That's where the conflict was meant to arise.

The answering machine messages are supposed to lead you to believe that she is the victim of Bobby Jenkins, then her unexpected reaction to bobby still being in the room is supposed to be something of a twist. It's supposed to raise the question did he rape her? OR was he a victim of her all along. You're left to decide for yourself using the information you have been given.

I had also hoped that the answering machine greeting would be enough to characterize the main character as a sort of fun-loving party girl. The type of girl that everyone knows and has come into contact with before. This is what was supposed to make the whole thing a bit creepy.

My favorite movies are the movies that don't tell you everything, they leave certain things up for interpretation, they show you things and let you put them together rather than putting them together for you. This is what I was going for.
 
good point luster. As I said, thats only my opnion and as worth as much or little as anyone deicdes to take it.

I did wonder if he had tried rape her, but she looked quite relaxed.
 
I thought she was so drunk, she could not remeber what happened to her and remembered little by little, and then saw he was still there at the end and took vengeance for the rape, or the possible loss of her virginity as she was so drunk.
 
msconce: That is also a possibility I was trying to put out there - I'm glad you were able to pick up on that.

Thanks.
 
Yeah........my favorite.
This is the first film that made me feel like you have real filmmaking skills and not just -cool kid flashy skills- the feeling is perfect the photography.............all great. thats all I gots to say.
 
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