Film Review: The Hound (short film) (2018)

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SYNOPSIS:

In the style of the old Universal Horror films comes The Hound! A scorned man makes a deal with the devil to get revenge

REVIEW:

More short films, kiddies! Today we have THE HOUND, written and directed by Andrew Jara.

I want to say up front that I was so very stoked to see this film. The description told me everything I needed to know, that it was an homage to the old Universal monster films. I am a total fan of those, and while I tend to view any sort of retro-style homage with suspicion, this one piqued my interest.

Our story opens in the wake of a great tragedy. Gloria (Marcelle Bowman) is mourning the loss/disappearance of her fiance Henry (Devon Stinson) after a house fire. She is comforted by Henry’s brother, Lawrence (Eric young). What Gloria doesn’t know is that Lawrence has coveted her, and the fire that allegedly killed her love was caused by Lawrence, or more to the point, thugs hired by Lawrence (played by Sam Davis and David Edwards).

Gloria is confronted at the graveyard by a mystic (Indrani Rauth), who gives a cryptic warning about the emergence of “The Hound”. Indeed, Henry awakes many miles away in the company of a stranger (Marlon Lewis), who promises a path of revenge. But at what cost?

The score from the Universal film DRACULA is used to set the scene as a story very much in the vein of THE WOLF MAN and THE MUMMY plays out. Our wronged hero seeks revenge upon those who stole his happiness, yet balks at the price he must pay for this revenge.

Guys…this was perfect. Burns on the film, crappy edits, flipping frames, off-synch voice overs…. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear I was watching an actual lost Universal short. There are a few obvious clues that this is a new production, but even those hints didn’t take away from how much I enjoyed this film.

Just watch it, if you get the chance. That’s all can say.