Review: THE BODY (2020)

Australian Adam Weber wrote the well-received short After Hours. He followed that up by writing and directing First Date. He also has producer credits on features such as Terrifier and Don’t Fuck In The Woods. Now he’s back with his latest short, the 12-minute crime/comedy hybrid The Body.

Opening with a beautiful aerial shot and a catchy bit of blues, The Body launches into its deceptively simple premise. Darryl (Marc Clement) is a hitman. He tells his new, and rather inexperienced, accomplice Steve (Anton Schrama) to meet him out in the middle of nowhere. There’s a body (Tim Hawkins) to be disposed of and he needs some help. What he gets is something else altogether.

There are some distinctly funny moments in The Body including Darryl’s reaction to Steve not knowing who Michael Myers or William Shatner are. That, along with his choice of equipment threw me off and had me forgetting this isn’t entirely a comedy.

Which made it a nice shock when The Body does get serious, and bloody. I won’t say more than the violence caught me off guard even though it’s perfectly logical. The fact that it’s rendered with practical effects rather than CGI is just the icing on the cake.

One thing about The Body did seem off though. As noted, Steve has no clue about Halloween’s boogeyman. But he’s familiar enough with the genre to do Leatherface’s chainsaw dance from the end of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre?

That minor quibble aside, The Body is a fun little film that should get some attention when it hits the festival circuit. When that will be is unknown though, its premier has already been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can check the film’s Facebook page for updates on screenings.

There’s no trailer, but there is a blooper reel.