Ready For My Close Up and Talk of the Dead : Written Review

Ready For My Close Up

and

Talk of the Dead

Written Review

Welcome everyone, to MyIndie Review Vlog, sponsored by AngerMan Distribution! I am Asaf Angel from MyIndie Productions.

In today’s episode, I’ll be tackling two short films written by Michael Haberfelner and starring awesome Scream Queen, Lynn Lowry! The 2016 Award-Winning short horror-comedy Talk of the Dead, produced by Michael Haberfelner and Luana Ribeira and directed by Eddie Bammeke, and the 2019 short horror-comedy Ready For My Close Up, written by Michael Haberfelner with concept by Lynn Lowry and directed by Jason Read.

Thank you, Michael, Lynn and all involved for sharing your films with us.

First up, is Talk of the Dead.

A powerful antidepressant, Troxadil, once considered to be a wonder drug, is suspected to allegedly cause those who use it to turn into flesh devouring zombies. The film depicts what rapidly grew to be a zombie outbreak through a news program titled The Hunt and Christina Show, hosted by… Hunt and Christina, played by Alexander Fernando and Rachel Brownstein.

In the couple of months since the outbreak, a zombie-neutralizing organization has risen, titled ZIA (Zombie Investigation Association) and we are shown some short segments showing citizens defending themselves against zombie attacks in what seem to be ZIA commercials. As part of their coverage, Hunt and Christina, have Victoria Winkelhauser, the CEO of Troxadil Corporation, portrayed by Lynn Lowry, as a guest on their show. Victoria defiantly objects to the claims linking her corporation with zombies, denying the existence of zombies, all the while threatening to sue anyone who says otherwise.

Built as a series of wacky comedy skits, Talk of the Dead feels to have been made in an extremely light-spirited fashion. It is, in some ways reminiscent to the wacky style of 80s and 90s parodies and films with segmented or episodic format, such as History of the World Part 1, Kentucky Fried Movie and U.H.F. with ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic. It can be considered as a parody-mockumentary on the whole zombie horror sub-genre, as well as harsh commentary on pharmaceutical conglomerates who promote legal drugs for every mood. It also feels to give social commentary on opportunism, as even a zombie outbreak can be a way for companies to make money. Best you judge for yourselves by watching the film.

The project has various characters and locations. It is apparent that a lot of effort went into it. Makeup and SFX were wonderful. Given its light spirit vibe, the only issue I had with the film has to do with technical production faults in certain scenes, but given the low-means in which I can imagine it was made for, it is indeed forgivable, though worth mentioning.

Talk of the Dead scores 7/10 on the Look at Me, I’m a Film Critic scale!
The film actually preceded a feature length version, now in post-production, titled There is No Such Thing as Zombies, currently in post production! Written by Michael Haberfelner, directed by Eddie Bammeke, the film stars Lynn Lowry, the cast of Talk of the Dead, as its trailer also sports footage from the short film, plus a lot more characters added. So Talk of the Dead can be looked at as a proof-of-concept film.

Stay tuned for further updates regarding the films completion and availability.

Next up is Ready For My Closeup!

“Nurse” Becca, played by Charlotte Mounter, tricks her way into the home of recluse, beautiful retired actress Megs Topplethwaite, portrayed by Lynn Lowry, with the purpose of robbing her of some undisclosed fortune.

Upon her scouring the house and meeting the seemingly absent minded Megs, Becca comes to find some horrific (lets call them) “secrets” in the house, each one throws us, the viewers into a flashback, showing how these secrets came to be.

Every flashback is constructed as a short story, sporting Megs in a different character from one of her films, which includes, wardrobes, accents, makeup and a various versions of an undeniably charming performance from Lowry.

As it was also made in light-spirited fashion, Lynn Lowry’s charm and charisma leads us on a 30-minute theme-park ride of wacky horror. For those of us who know and love Lynn Lowry’s work, the film just makes you love her more.

Ready for My Closeup also sports a cameo from writer Michael Haberfelner, as an extremely unlucky pizza delivery guy.

The only issue I had with the film, has to do with its rhythm and overall length, as I felt it could have been improved had it been a tad bit shorter.

Having said that, production value is high, definitely a step-up from Talk of the Dead done three years prior. Cinematography, colour-grading, makeup, performances were all admirable and worked well in service of the story. All in all, it’s a sweet gem of a film which evidently testifies to its committed cast and crew.

Ready for My Closeup scores 7.5/10 on the Look at Me, I’m a Film Critic scale!
The film is currently on its festival run, so stay tuned for further updates on its progress and availability.

Thank you again to Angerman Distribution for sponsoring our show.

If you’d like to catch-up on our past reviews you can find them all on our website, as well as our reviews AND promos on our MyIndie Review Vlog Vimeo channel. Link included.

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