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Sometimes short films tend to cram too much into a limited amount of time. That mindset is very understandable – we want a beginning, a middle, and an end to our stories. We want to feel like we know the characters and their motivations. The Silent City boldly avoids such an approach. Created by Ruairi Robinson and starring our favorite scarecrow Cillian Murphy – The Silent City is about a group of soldiers wandering a post apocalyptic wasteland.

What makes the film so bold are the gritty visuals. With a mood reminiscent of the war scenes in Full Metal Jacket and Saving Private Ryan, The Silent City accomplishes this within a 7 minute window. The Silent City effectively captures your attention without being fully invested in the background of the characters (because you don’t know it). Come to think of it, you never really get a firm grasp on the plot either.

It’s not often that a director will amass a fanbase before he’s ever even helmed a feature, but that’s exactly what Ruairi Robinson managed to do, thanks to the buzz that surrounded his short films like The Silent City and BlinkyTM. Movie pundits have been predicting for years now that Robinson is a future name in the world of genre films, and now he’s getting his chance to prove them right, because his first feature, The Last Days on Mars, is ready to be released in the UK on September 19, and has put together a trailer to promote the occasion. In addition to watching it because of the buzz surrounding Robinson, you’re also going to want to give this trailer a chance if you enjoy biology-based horror movies, or thrillers in space, or when the two come together in something like Alien. And you’re going to want to check it out...

By MoreHorror.com

The first trailer for the post-apocalyptic road film The Silent City has hit the internet.

A new take on the post-apocalyptic road series, The Silent City is an independent web series shot in the real-life abandoned spaces of New York City.

The film stars Eric Stafford 'Nameless', Kettie Jean, and was written and directed by 'Otsu' Rubidium Wu.

You can see the trailer below the following information about the web series, as well as some special photos from the film.

About The Silent City:

Welcome to New York City. Population: 01

When an unexplained event decimates the human race, the survivors must fight for their lives in the ruins of civilization.

History In Brief

Conceived during Hurricane Irene in August 2011, The Silent City grew from the eerie feeling of an evacuated and deserted New York, when 'the city that never sleeps' finally fell silent.

Raising an $11,000 budget through the crowd-funding website Kickstarter,...

“Akira” may finally be moving forward with a director again. Variety is reporting has signed Spanish-director Jaume Collet-Serra to the helm of the live-action adaptation of “Akira.” Collet-Serra has directed several films including “Orphan,” “Goal II: Living the Dream,” “House of Wax” and this year’s “Unknown.” According to Variety, the director has “a reputation for delivering successful films on time and on budget." The adapted film version will be an action film in New Manhattan rather than post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo. The storyline revolves around Kaneda saving his best friend from a medical experiment that threatens to unleash destructive powers. Directors Ruairi Robinson (“BlinkyTM,” “The Silent City”) and Albert Hughes (“The Book of Eli,” “From Hell”) were previously attached to the project. In addition, Variety is reporting scriptwriter Steve Kloves (“Harry Potter” film franchise) is handling the latest draft for the film. Gary Whitta (“The Book of Eli”), Albert Torres (“Henry Poole Is Here...

If you don't already know Ruairi Robinson's name, go back through our archive [1] of previous reports on the young director to check out his short films like The Silent City [2] and Blinky [3], then come back to this announcement of a new feature for which he's been tapped to direct. In November of last year the director was attached [4] to a sci-fi thriller script called The Animators. Now he has been announced as the director of another sci-fi film called The Fallen. Variety [5] reports that the story involves the aftermath of an alien ship crash-landing in Russia. "When it creates a 400-mile electronic dead-zone, international special ops teams are sent in to neutralize it." Reminds me of an action-oriented take on the Andrei Tarkovsky sci-fi classic Stalker.  The Russian setting and 'dead zone' naturally suggest Stalker, but if we ever see The Fallen I suspect that any real similarity between...

We don't often cover short films for over a year in advance, but Ruairi Robinson made the great short The Silent City and was attached to the live-action Akira remake, so when concept video [1] cropped up for a new film of his in late 2009, we noticed. That film turns out to be the short Blinky, starring Max Records (Where the Wild Things Are) as a kid whose family has some problems. He gets the latest robot family helper, Blinky, for Chrismas, but that doesn't solve all his issues. In fact, it doesn't solve any of them. The full short is after the break. There was a great sense of encroaching dread [2] in the teaser for Blinky, and there's a point halfway through the short when you realize how things are going to go down, and why, that really acts as the proper culmination of that dread. As a character, Blinky...

We previously showed you a teaser trailer for a creepy short film called "Blinky," which is directed by Irish filmmaker Ruairi Robinson. Today, we have the full 13-minute short and you can check it out below. The story revolves around boy who gets a robot helper as a present. The robot cleans, cooks and can be your best friend. But when the boy gets frustrated with the robot, his best friend begins to malfunction. Robinson is best known for "The Silent City" post-apocalyptic short, which stars Cillian Murphy. He was also in talks with Warner Bros' to direct the studio's "Akira" film. Short Film:...

Soon every home will have a robot helper. Don't worry. It's perfectly safe. Do you guys remember seeing that awesome teaser trailer for that rather creepy looking short called Blinky™? The one with the eerie Android robot look-alike. The short stars Max Records from Where The Wild Things Are and is written & directed by Ruairi Robinson, the Irish filmmaker who almost directed Akira then did a short titled The Silent City. Well thanks to a hot tip by Quiet Earth, the entire Blinky™ short can be viewed below, as it was uploaded on Vimeo. It's as crazy/sick/twisted/brilliant/awesome as you're expecting, so have fun and put the kids away! Watch Ruairi Robinson's full-length short film Blinky™: Blinky™ is the creation of Irish filmmaker Ruairi Robinson, an up-and-coming director with a few shorts in his filmography, including the Oscar nominated Fifty Percent Grey. Robinson wrote and...

First time feature film director Ruairi Robinson is attached to direct a sci-fi thriller called The Animators which centers on a crew of astronauts who are picked off one by one by a malevolent force.

Robinson has directed a few short films, including a trailer to one of these shorts that we recently posted called Blinky which stars Max Records (Where the Wild Things Are). He was also nominated for an Oscar in 2001 for a short film he made called Fifty Percent Grey.

The guy seems like he's got some solid talent. At one point he was being looked at as a possible director for the live-action Akira film. The Animators is set to shoot in early 2011. The script for the film was written by Clive Dawson. The Playlist has read it and says it is “reminiscent of Carpenter’s The Thing.” They describe the story as follows,

A crew...

Academy Award nominated director Ruairi Robinson has debuted a new trailer for his new indie film Blinky. A little over a year ago a short concept teaser trailer was released only the film was titled Bad Robot. The new sci-fi horror indie film stars Max Records who played Max in the film Where the Wild Things Are. Apparently the boy wants a Blinky toy for Christmas and it's a guess that things start going wrong and people get killed since Bloody Disgusting is labeling the film a "futuristic Child's Play." Robinson, who at one time was attached to the live action Akira film, was nominated for a best animated short Oscar in 2001 for a sci-fi comedy called Fifty Percent Grey. He also wrote and directed a sci-fi short titled The Silent City. Here is the short concept teaser trailer titled...

A little over a year ago, we posted a teaser for a bizarre short called "Bad Robot," which is made by Ruairi Robinson, who is best known for the Cillian Murphy-starring "The Silent City" post-apocalyptic short. The teaser showed a creepy R2D2-looking robot dancing around, and today we have a real teaser trailer showing that same robot with Max Records (Where the Wild Things Are). Judging by the tone, the robotic friend will clearly go nuts, similar to Chucky in "Child's Play." We still know very little about the project, but it is now called "Blinky" and looks to be a feature film. The tagline states: "Soon every house will have a robot helper. Don't worry, your kids are perfectly safe." Check out the teaser below. Teaser: If you cannot see the player, click here.

Records is 13 now, but at the age of eight, according to IMDb, he "led a protest for vegetarian options at his school cafeteria." Beside his impressive turn in Spike Jonze's film, he also played young Mark Ruffalo in Rian Johnson's "The Brothers Bloom." Next for him is "Blinky," the feature debut latest short from Oscar-nominated filmmaker/animator Ruairi Robinson. The teaser trailer below shows Records' character acquiring a retro robot (so hot right now) as a toy/playmate/mechanically smiling possible threat. The film will presumably turn up on the festival circuit soon. [H/t to /Film]

You can watch Robinson's 2006 Academy Award-nominated short "The Silent City" (featuring Cillian Murphy) here (Quicktime file).

Incidentally, Records' father Shawn Records is a photographer who created a series of photos, entitled "Owner of This World," from shots of his son on the "Wild Things" set, one of which is available for purchase on the print...

Ruairi Robinson, the director of the impressive short film The Silent City is back with a feature film titled Blinky. The film stars Max Records (Where the Wild Things Are) as a boy who befriends a robot that begins to show signs that it may indeed be a danger. As Bloody Disgusting pointed out, Child’s Play quickly comes to mind. Little is known about the film but the teaser does have me excited. Watch the teaser trailer and the short film from the director below.

Sound is such an instrumental tool in filmmaking as it not only can make or break a film, but change the tone drastically. Academy Award nominated director Ruairi Robinson makes this exercise look easy in his teaser trailer for Blinky, a new indie film that's on the hush-hush. We got our hands on the stunning teaser that displays a boy (played by Where the Wild Things Are's Max Records) and his one Christmas wish: He wants a "Blinky" toy. The teaser is stylish, artistic and incredibly creepy. If I were to pitch it I'd call it a futuristic Child's Play. In short, Omfg. What say you? Robinson was nominated for a best animated short Oscar in 2001 for a sci-fi comedy called "Fifty Percent Grey." He also wrote and directed a sci-fi short titled "The Silent City". He was at one time attached to Akira.

Ruairi Robinson has made a couple of short films over the years (including one which was nominated for an Oscar) but it was his last film that finally openend the door for a full length feature. The Silent City isn't exactly brilliant but I do love the basic idea and the fact that that Robinson isn't afraid to tease the audience. Nothing really happens and then something does happen but before we find out the outcome, the film ends. Gutsy move to leave the story unfinished like that, especially when you've only been telling that bit of story for 6 minutes.

The other two things that stand out about Robinson's short film is the humour and the effects. Keep in mind this dates back a few years but it's pretty impressive when yo consider how far the techonology has come in four years; I'm hopeful that this is a small indication...

You might know the name Ruairi Robinson; if you don't I'm betting you will very soon. Robinson made the cool short film The Silent City (which I've embedded below) and was the guy tapped to direct the live-action Akira. I'm not sure whether he's still attached to that film, which was recently said to be not as dead as once reported. Regardless, Robinson is now working to finish a film called Bad Robot, and the teaser concept video now floating around the interwebs suggests it could be a lot of fun. Check it out after the break. Quiet Earth has this clip for Bad Robot, but sadly not a lot of additional information. There's a tagline ("Soon every house will have a robot helper. Don't worry, your kids are perfectly safe.") which suggests a lot of things, not least the possibility that while the film is billed as a sci-fi comedy,...

If you were one of the people waiting for a live-action Akira film to be made, you’re not really going to be very happy about this latest news. Why? Well, according to reports over at Bloody Disgusting, the live action version of the film that had been in development at Warner Bros. is now “dead as a doornail.”

Originally, the movie was to be a massive two-part, live-action epic produced by Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way productions. It was also to be the directorial debut of Ruari Robinson, best known as the Oscar-nominated director of the sci-fi comedy short Fifty Percent Grey and the short The Silent City. But now, with Robinson reportedly leaving the project, the fate of Akira as a live-action film is very much uncertain.

In case you’re not familiar with Akira, it originally came out in 1988 as a manga and then...