A while ago I previewed Familiar, Written/Directed by Richard Powell and Produced by Zach Green. Well after seeing the finished product, I needed a very long and hot shower. Just to wash away the ugliness. It is a powerful film that creates more dread and discomfort than most full length films playing today.Robert Nolan is John Dodd, a man who is trapped in the hell that is his life and looking forward to soon buying a truck and hitting the road to freedom. These plans are soon detracked when he learns that his wife Charlotte (Astrida Auza) is pregnant. He begins to resent her even more and is soon moved to acts both evil and destructive. Is the voice in his head real and trying to save him or is he doomed no matter what he does?
Familiar creates one of the most unsettling experiences I have ever sat through. The home life of John Dodd is so real and tangible that it’s hard not to believe his pain. It reminds me of a short film called Cutting Moments (1997) by Douglas Buck, not in plot but in the examination of the breakdown of the family unit.
Richard Powell has some real talent in that he can master reality cause without that sense of truth, horror is so less horrifying. I don’t review shorts often but this is horror at its most disturbing and
I urge you to check this one out.
http://youtu.be/sBQadfeT2eM