Film Review: Hack Job (short film) (2015)

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SYNOPSIS:

A cyber/slasher horror short starring the very talented Emmanuel Skretas as Michael, a reclusive hacker who experiences a downward spiral of bad luck created by a wealthy and established hacker named Bava (my father, Wayne McPhee). But the “hack off” that ensues is the least of Michael’s worries, when a third party crashes the competition, leaving viewers with a sense of dread.

REVIEW:

Another short film, this time we have HACK JOB, a tasty little bit of paranoia from Crumb Budget Productions in Canada.

Written, directed, and produced by Matthew McPhee, the film gives us a look at a day in the life of a computer hacker named Michael, played by Emmanuel Skretas.

Going about his daily whatever, Michael receives a message on his computer from a user calling himself Bava (played by two actors, Wayne McPhee and Ryan White), challenging Michael to a contest. Unable to pass up the challenge, the games begin.

It becomes obvious from the first moment that Michael is way out his league as the anonymous challenger stumps Michael again and again. But where exactly does this game end?

Writer/director Matthew McPhee has a few other shorts to his credit, including a documentary on domesticated horses (actually, that is the title….Domesticated Horses). The cast have no other credits listed beyond this film.

This is a short film in the very literal sense, with a total run time of under five minutes. It gives us a complete story in that short time. Almost a film-making 101 example of how to make a short film. It’s straight to the point, and fun to watch.

So using my special “Short scale” of one to five, five being awesome, I’m giving this film 4 laptops.