And finishing off volume 1 of the BFI’s ‘Short, Sharp Shocks’ set is ‘The Errand’ a film that very strongly reminded me of the work of Norman J. Warren for some reason…only, without the sensationalist streak that made me appreciate Warren as a film maker.
The plots pretty standard. It’s another ‘runaround’ Short featuring a soldier sent by his officer to retrieve a note from a discreet location, on arriving he’s met by a sheepish woman who nervously hands him the letter, but on leaving the location both the woman and a man wearing goggles and black face jump him and leave him for dead.
What follows is 10-15 minutes then of our soldier slowly dying and the tension is in whether he can still deliver the letter AND figure out what’s going on.
And…its fine…a little dull honestly…but fine. I liked the direction, cine and tone of the piece. But the script and performances really let this one down in a big way. With an ending that’s both predictable and uninspiring…one I may revisit in future as it does have some compelling direction. But far from an essential watch.
As for Short Sharp Shocks volume 1? It’s a difficult one honestly, a lot of these films don’t deserve to rot away in an archive somewhere. Some really DO deserve to be seen! But I feel like this set is a bit misleading as a lot of these films barely have any sharp Shocks…most of them arnt even really that Short either…but then, I think a boxset called long, conveluted, sleeping aids wouldn’t have sold as well…hopefully volume 2 picks up the pace and meets the brief.
TYTD Reviews 