E.T.R.

Well-deserved win in Gisborne! The acting, script, sound, visual effects and cinematography were all excellent.
Great work Hot Lunch team :)

So you know a few weeks ago how I said Couch Kumara had raised the bar for gore in this competition? Well honestly Hot Lunch quite probably have their number with an absolutely staggering tale of guts and destruction that would leave the French extreme horror movement of the early to mid 2000s proud. We're talking FRONTIER(S) style carcasses and BRAINDEAD inspired blood and guts that was jaw droppingly well done.

But you know what? They bloody well earned their explosive payoff, with a likeable ensemble riffing on topical trends such as the housing market and crypto and all centered around a good old fashioned getaway to Gizzy with the lads (a week is plenty of time to get back to the pregnant missus) where things go horribly awry.

Those weekend hall passes quickly led to an eery feeling of dread and good old fashioned ball tripping over tuatara cocktails that cigars would not be getting smoked to celebrate a newborn anytime soon.

Technically superb with pacing, edit, script performances and direction all really well handled. The sound was loud, in your face, brash and completely appropriate for the bravado exploding on screen.

What I personally loved here was the ode to THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. That subgenre (WALK THE DARK STREET, CONFESSIONS OF A PSYCHO CAT, THE HUNT et all) might just be my favourite subgenre in all of cinema, the human hunt.

Fuckbois getting their comeuppance, what is there not to like?

But genuinely, I loved this film. Massive congrats on the Gisborne victory and fingers crossed you make the national final to blow everyone away at the Embassy.

Lol. You guys managed to get Harold the giraffe himself, Beau. I like this film already.

This film falls into the modern style…. Like full of memes, quick shots and goofy humour, along with gore. I like the moko kauae chick, but she was a bit over the top….. Kei te pai tho. It’s a smashing film for Gizzy but I feel like I’ve seen this film before in the past.

Congrats on toppling Kratos’ Five year WWE Regional Champion. Quite a feat I must say. You guys should be extremely proud. I haven’t seen their film yet but it took them 12 years to make it to the Grand Finals. Maybe you guys could do it in a fraction?

Keep entering, you are also a new team that has made the Tairawhiti Region film quality pumping in recent years.

Chur.

It is a technically polished short with charismatic performances. Historically teams that don't take themselves too seriously and layer in a lot of humor do well and I can see that it has worked out for you here. I'm not 100% sure about the story though. I can see what you may have been doing. Set up the characters so that you don't care when they all get chopped up in the end but I guess the killers could have been fleshed out at least a little. The splatter part of the splatter movie I thought worked well but the transition from we're buying a house to running for your lives was a bit weird.