Filthy Review - Prick

Prick (2011)

Review by Jude Felton

I’m positive someone is putting something in the water up in Canada. Our Northern neighbors are up there busy scheming and plotting and creating some damned fine cinema in the process. This year alone I have seen both feature length movies and short movies that have done nothing less than impress the Hell out of me. On top of that I know there is more to come next year.

This in turn brings me to Prick. This wonderfully named short movie is the directorial debut of Colin C. Berry, who has also worked on another Canadian movie I am excited about, that being Exit Humanity. Prick’s running time is just over nine minutes, but will stick in your mind far longer than that I can assure you.

The movie follows Leonard Knack, a mild mannered pleasant sort of fellow on first glance, as he goes about his day to day business. His day to day business happens to be that he is a serial killer.

Shot with no dialogue, Prick is a mesmerizing movie to watch. It manages to pack in so much in its short running time yet never feels forced or crowded whilst viewing it. The soundtrack serves only to emphasize what is going on onscreen and the emotions the film manages to stir up is quite extraordinary. At times scary, sad and even funny yet the whole time quite disturbing, it always manages to provoke some sort of reaction.

The cast is small, with good solid performances throughout, but the focus is without a doubt Ian Batt as Leonard. He conveys all that is needed in order to get this story across and packs a variety of emotions into his role. He is by all accounts quite excellent in his role.

If this nine minutes is anything to go by, and I suggest you watch it at your earliest convenience, then I have no doubt that Berry has a very bright future ahead of him. I’ve seen quite a few quite excellent short movies this year, from all corners of the Globe (yeah, I know that makes no sense), and I can say without hesitation that this is already one of my favorites.

Prick goes to show that you don’t need flashy effects, or gore, or any other gimmick in order to make a top quality film. Hell, you don’t even need dialogue! Those do work when it is required to have them but this story didn’t require any of the aforementioned.

Scary, disturbing and quite excellent. Highly recommended.

For more information on Prick visit its Facebook page.