I recently enjoyed the opportunity to get an advance viewing of FAMILIAR, a short horror film headed for the festival circuit. In FAMILIAR, a middle-aged man (Robert Nolan) appears to maintain an idyllic home life with his wife (Astrida Auza) and teenage daughter (Cathryn Hostick), but inside, he is raging with hate towards everybody important to him. When his wife finds out she’s pregnant, he believes it’s a plot to make him suffer, and decides to do something about it … something nasty, followed by even nastier impulses. But the man begins to suspect these impulses may not be his own.
The film is well shot, written and produced by Richard Powell (writer/director), Zach Green (producer, Fatal Pictures) and Michael Jari Davidson (cinematography and co-producer), with special effects by Ryan Louagie, Carlos Henriques and Steven Dawley (The Butcher Shop).
FAMILIAR shows the family in everyday situations, having everyday talk with lots of closeups, but we hear the vicious ranting inside the man’s head as his mind falls apart, setting up great tension and putting the viewer on edge as to when and how this guy is going to explode. It turns out he is also pregnant–with hate, and something even worse. When he goes from listening to his impulses to obeying them, the tension ramps up dramatically. I enjoyed FAMILIAR, and would recommend it.
For now, you can catch FAMILIAR at the major film festivals, and after that you may be able to catch it online. The next screenings are in Chicago at ChicagoFearFest April 13-14, 2012, and at Texas Frightmare Weekend May 4-6, 2012.
Until then, here’s the trailer:
And here’s a clip:
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