One Must Fall: Written Review

One Must Fall

Written Review

Hi everyone and welcome to MyIndie Review Vlog, the show that gives you spoiler-free reviews of indie films. My name is Asaf Angel from MyIndie Productions.

Today I’ll be reviewing 2018’s feature-length comedy-horror One Must Fall, written and directed by U.S. indie filmmaker Antonio Pantoja, and starring among others, MyIndie featured artist, talented U.S. actor Daniel De Weldon.

Thank you, Antonio for sharing your film with us.

Sarah, a struggling, young single mom portrayed by Julie Streble, and her gay work and childhood friend Alton, played by Andrew Yackel, begin working as part of a crime-scene cleanup crew, after being wrongfully fired from their office jobs, by their previous obnoxious, sexist boss.

The cleaning crew is made of men and women in charge of detailing crime-scenes after the authorities are done processing them. It means they have to deal with mess and clutter that often includes bits and pieces of Human matter. Basically, not for the squeamish.

Other than Sarah and Alton, the team is comprised of Daniel, Regina, Dorian, Todd and Bob, played by Daniel De Weldon, Rebekah Lynn Dow, John Wells, Todd Proctor and Francis Whitaker.

The news reports repeated murders by a cruel, maniacal serial killer, played by Barry Piacente. Soon the team arrives on one of the killer’s gruesome scenes in an abandoned industrial structure and a concern is voiced by Sarah: How do they know that the killer has actually abandoned the premises after performing his handy work?

Among the things that stood out in this film was the periodic theme. Antonio set the story in the 1980s and was successful in keeping the pace and atmosphere reminiscent of the era. We see landline phones, VCR’s, computers and other electronic devices, appropriate wardrobe for the time, vehicles, etc. The film’s awesome original score, composed by Joe Stockton, was also greatly inspired by the time period. For a low budget indie film shot today, I would say that the period theme was indeed a bold choice that required much diligence and it paid off in spades!

Antonio went all out with respect to the means at the disposal of an 80’s slasher film. He solely used practical effects in the film, which were extremely impressive as the gore level is of high standard and manages to reach proportions reminiscent of films the likes of Hostel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and others of that ilk.

One thing, in my opinion, that deserves to be noted is to do with the way performance styles clashed with each other. Now, I am not saying there were issues of bad acting, quite the opposite, I think almost all actors performed their roles quite well. The thing is, some characters were played straight, the way you would expect to see in a thriller or slasher-horror, while others were portrayed in a way you would expect to see in a wacky comedy. The two different styles of performances, being in the same film, did not mix as well as I would have hoped in service of the story.

Having said that, it is apparent that the cast was very capable. All performed at quite a high level. Indie filmmakers, especially at the start of their journey should feel inspired by the meticulousness and by the heart Antonio and his team invested in One Must Fall. It is important to remember that this is Antonio’s debut feature film and he has impressed quite a lot of people with this effort. He even got the president and co-founder of TROMA, Lloyd Kaufman, to do a cameo in the film!

The production value is very high, well above average, as were the great cinematography, makeup and wardrobe. The multitude of practical effects spread throughout the film deserve special mention as they were very well done and greatly enhanced the film.

The film has already collected some impressive official selections, nominations and awards on the festival circuit.
Congratulations to Antonio and his team, and a special shoutout to Daniel De Weldon, a featured artist on the MyIndie website. Well done, Daniel!

One Must Fall gets a 8.5/10 on the Look At Me, I’m A Film Critic scale
The film is currently in its festival run, so stay tuned for further updates!

Until next time, keep supporting indie film. Watch, share, spread the word. My name is Asaf Angel, I thank you for tuning into MyIndie Review Vlog. I’ll see you next Thursday!