Phobia

One of the best of the heat, some nice humor and well made. I think it would have been better without the opening narration but it managed to pull off what it was trying to do, or at least what I think it was trying to do.

I thought your film was done up pretty good! funny at the right moments and yet it was bit creepy and i definitely had chills down my spine during the clown scene part. it was a really close call for me between yours and 'Last Night' but all in all, both films did good!

Good style employed; however it seemed more like a thriller than a horror. Some of the direction and acting could have improvised ('we are off the hook').

Carried through the disurbing theme of the movie well. A bit of a glitch in the storyline. I think scissors in the throat might bring up some questions on how the victim died. Overall enjoyed the quality of the movie.

Didn't really enjoy this one. Wasn't much of a horror. The story didn't really make sense and it was a bit light hearted and funny which goes against the genre which is why I'm marking it down.

A fantastic entry by a group of 17/18yr olds who have been honing their skills for 48hrs over the last 7 years. I liked the way they did a laid back psychological horror, not awash with screechy violins and gore. The quality of the editing was superb and the sound/music seamless. Apart from calling the girl they killed "the body" 30secs after she hit the deck, the dialogue was realistic, minimalist and the acting just gets better every year. Pickle Thugs deserve some more awards this year and their director Calvin Sang should be known as "Sang Froid" for his unreal composure in the face of the 48hr madness. Good on them!

Fantastic camera work. Acting was out of this world. I saw after the show one of the lead actors getting recognised and congratulated on him performance. He really deserved it too. It was as though the script was written for him. All actors complimented each other. The song at the beginning was really cool!

Really good film this year for PickleThugs. Very interesting cinematography, and fantastic editing. But to me it seemed a little confused whether it was a serious horror or a comedy-horror (not that it takes away from the quality of the film). Seemed like it needed a little more for an ending, or at least abit more of a continuation to the storyline. Overall a good job.

(Watched in the Screening Room) This was quite good, and in many ways a step up from your great short from last year. The age appropriate story was a very smart choice, and definitely made the film more audience-friendly as well as allowing for a very smart play on the teen suicide angle in the twist. The narrative was very well-constructed (essentially the origin story for a slasher villain from my point of view) and your editing continues to be excellent. I think the cinematography was possibly the weak point of your technicals, but I know from my 48hours experience this year that night shooting without a lot of lights is extremely difficult. However, there are a couple of things that I thought weren't as good (though one is just my prejudice as a teen film-maker myself). The voice-over felt rather unnecessary as their motivations were perfectly clear and the voice-over made the tension of the opening scene weaker while adding little at the end, though this is partially because I am sick of voice-over in short films (especially those by teenagers because for whatever reason they always strike me as cloying). I also thought that an original score, or at least a more tonally consistent score could have added to this film. I get that you wanted to balance a sense horror/dread with some dark comedy, and I think it was largely very effective and smart choice, but the score cue in the second scene didn't really match the scoring in the opening and was a little misleading as to the tone you wanted for the film due to the lightness of the pizz strings. Overall, another great effort as I continue to feel jealous of how much more you accomplished in 48hours than I did.

[Viewed in the Screening Room] A trio of teens get their kicks from exposing other teens to their phobias. When they expose Nicky Brick to her fear of clowns, it all goes rather wrong and they must deal with the consequences. 2011's National Best Damn Teen team and National Best Editing winners return with another polished short. Editing, sound, cinematography all tick, tick, tick. The acting is adequate - everyone suits their roles even if the delivery is stunted at times (eg "Wait, what?") Where it falls down for me is that a good concept for a film, ultimately cops out with a rather quick and certainly weak end to the conflict and major dramatic question that had been established. It was the equivalent to the old "It's all a dream!" And as has already been identified, the forensic team must have been rather incompetent. You've got to be impressed by Pickle Thugs though and one suspects they'll win "The Big Show" one day.

A fantastic entry by a group of 17/18yr olds who have been honing their skills for 48hrs over the last 7 years. I liked the way they did a laid back psychological horror, not awash with screechy violins and gore. The quality of the editing was superb and the sound/music seamless. Apart from calling the girl they killed "the body" 30secs after she hit the deck, the dialogue was realistic, minimalist and the acting just gets better every year. Pickle Thugs deserve some more awards this year and their director Calvin Sang should be known as "Sang Froid" for his unreal composure in the face of the 48hr madness. Good on them!

(Watched in the Screening Room) This was quite good, and in many ways a step up from your great short from last year. The age appropriate story was a very smart choice, and definitely made the film more audience-friendly as well as allowing for a very smart play on the teen suicide angle in the twist. The narrative was very well-constructed (essentially the origin story for a slasher villain from my point of view) and your editing continues to be excellent. I think the cinematography was possibly the weak point of your technicals, but I know from my 48hours experience this year that night shooting without a lot of lights is extremely difficult. However, there are a couple of things that I thought weren't as good (though one is just my prejudice as a teen film-maker myself). The voice-over felt rather unnecessary as their motivations were perfectly clear and the voice-over made the tension of the opening scene weaker while adding little at the end, though this is partially because I am sick of voice-over in short films (especially those by teenagers because for whatever reason they always strike me as cloying). I also thought that an original score, or at least a more tonally consistent score could have added to this film. I get that you wanted to balance a sense horror/dread with some dark comedy, and I think it was largely very effective and smart choice, but the score cue in the second scene didn't really match the scoring in the opening and was a little misleading as to the tone you wanted for the film due to the lightness of the pizz strings. Overall, another great effort as I continue to feel jealous of how much more you accomplished in 48hours than I did.

[Viewed in the Screening Room] A trio of teens get their kicks from exposing other teens to their phobias. When they expose Nicky Brick to her fear of clowns, it all goes rather wrong and they must deal with the consequences. 2011's National Best Damn Teen team and National Best Editing winners return with another polished short. Editing, sound, cinematography all tick, tick, tick. The acting is adequate - everyone suits their roles even if the delivery is stunted at times (eg "Wait, what?") Where it falls down for me is that a good concept for a film, ultimately cops out with a rather quick and certainly weak end to the conflict and major dramatic question that had been established. It was the equivalent to the old "It's all a dream!" And as has already been identified, the forensic team must have been rather incompetent. You've got to be impressed by Pickle Thugs though and one suspects they'll win "The Big Show" one day.