A Thousand Words: Bloodline (2007)

Directors:

Jerod Brennen
Justin Lewis

Writers:

Jerod Brennen (screenplay)
Justin Lewis (story)

Genre:

Short | Horror

Tagline:

Before you criticize the younger generation...just remember who raised them...

Plot:

A voyeuristic killer reverts to his old ways to protect his son.

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Second Part | Number In Title

Awards:

1 win

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Bryan Arnold	...	Jack
Tiffany Arnold	...	Nancy Thompson (voice)
Michael Isaac Brennen	...	Young Steven
Suzanne Camilli	...	Jennifer
Kim Carey	...	Jack's Father
Louie Cowan	...	Ian Black
Megan Downour	...	Kathleen Shapiro
Todd Adam Marquis	...	Shaun
Susan M. Martin	...	Jennifer's Mother
Jason Morris	...	Steven Black
Sue Sabo	...	Pamela Black
Susan Sabo	...	Pam Black
William J. Sabo	...	Jennifer's Father
Brandy Seymour	...	Maureen Prescott (archive footage)
Rhonda Thomas	...	Jack's Mother
Hannah Wegmann	...	Anne

Runtime:

26 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS

Filming Locations:

Columbus, Ohio, USA

Company:

Tempered Zealot Productions

Movie Connections:

Follows A Thousand Words (2005)

A Short Film From People With Potential

Jerod Brennen and Justin Lewis bring us the story of a young man who is tormented by his neighbor for taking a photo of the neighbor's girlfriend. But the kid's father doesn't like it when his son gets picked on, and will defend him at any cost. This film follows "A Thousand Words", which I haven't seen, so anything I could have gathered from that story I apologize for missing out on here.

What this film does well is combine murder and photography. I saw another film about murder and photography this year called "Murder Set Pieces", but that one was more using photography to get to a victim. This one does something of the reverse -- murdering for the sake of capturing photos (though this is not the motive behind the murders, as near as I can tell).

The actors, none of whom are professional to my knowledge, were all quite good. The main lead, his father and the neighbor had a good rapport and really pulled off the people they were supposed to be. I was less impressed by the mother in the flashbacks, finding her not very convincing (I have known people like her, but they don't act like this woman was acting -- she was very forced).

In many cases, the photography aspect was just an added detail (but necessary for the title "A Thousand Words" to be clever). However, near the beginning there is a scene that was actually really creepy. I get so used to expecting less from low budget films, I often forget that it's possible to make them this well -- there are photos in a box. I won't say what's in the photos, but I was disturbed. Brennen and Lewis are working on a professional level, and I wouldn't be surprised if they move on to bigger projects in the near future (if they haven't already). I've seen worse films come out of the After Dark horror festival...

As this movie is only about 30 minutes long, there's not much else one can say. Everything seemed to fall into place -- actors, film quality, plot. I think it could be elaborated more, and the ending was more than just a little unbelievable for me. (I can't say what it was, or why I found it unbelievable, but I'll just say it seemed inconsistent.) If you get the opportunity to watch this, I'd say go for it. It's better than another "Trading Spaces" marathon with your mom.