Mind Creep

Chess Club are always a point I look forward to in this competition, I really enjoyed their 2011 musical and was thrilled when their 2013 robot film got into the finals. This year however, I was somewhat underwhelmed. While the film itself was okay, it missed a lot of that fun, zany humour and surprise that this team is so great at delivering. The film follows a washed up street magician (closely based on Chris Angel’s mind freak) who is kidnapped by a man that does real magic in order to help him fight evil. The story was fairly linear and predictable, the fun moments felt a little too short, some of the other moments ran a little too long, and it would have been nice to see a few more visual effects shots and magic tricks. The ending was similarly quite linear and held little surprise, though it was well choreographed and interesting to watch. It’s difficult to distance yourself from a team’s previous work, and there were some great shots in the film. The reveal of the villain’s face was hilarious and got a lot of good vibes, and the mid-turn reveal of the magician with the ball stuck with me as a pretty great shot. The supporting actor gave the film a particular amusing zaniness and overall it was fun to watch. While this film was not the best of the heat, it has something to offer and is interesting and amusing to watch.

Great Characters, well shot and fun! Very cool use of the fantasy genre.

Chess Club know their film making. Good acting, a few nice shots and effects and an obvious push for a more comedic take on the genre gave us an enjoyable watch. I felt the pacing in the middle was a bit off and the film may have been more effective a touch shorter, but that's just me.

'Mind Creep' as whats the title it is. Liking the thrill and how it tickle my imagination. Also a low budget but quality movie.

I struggled a bit with this one. Didn’t find it overly engaging, so unfortunately got a little bored. However, was redeemed by some top-notch performances. Looked great, though the sound quality was lacking in places. This is one those unfortunate cases of where a team was probably marked on a tougher scale due to their fantastic film last year. In isolation this film deserved its place in the final.

Wizards battle an evil wizard killer - who has mouths for eyes - and must face him in a final showdown. I enjoyed the acting and special effects, the story was kind of quirky but lacked the punch of last year.

Chess Club are always a point I look forward to in this competition, I really enjoyed their 2011 musical and was thrilled when their 2013 robot film got into the finals. This year however, I was somewhat underwhelmed. While the film itself was okay, it missed a lot of that fun, zany humour and surprise that this team is so great at delivering. The film follows a washed up street magician (closely based on Chris Angel’s mind freak) who is kidnapped by a man that does real magic in order to help him fight evil. The story was fairly linear and predictable, the fun moments felt a little too short, some of the other moments ran a little too long, and it would have been nice to see a few more visual effects shots and magic tricks. The ending was similarly quite linear and held little surprise, though it was well choreographed and interesting to watch. It’s difficult to distance yourself from a team’s previous work, and there were some great shots in the film. The reveal of the villain’s face was hilarious and got a lot of good vibes, and the mid-turn reveal of the magician with the ball stuck with me as a pretty great shot. The supporting actor gave the film a particular amusing zaniness and overall it was fun to watch. While this film was not the best of the heat, it has something to offer and is interesting and amusing to watch.