I would not class ROOM 8 as a short but more a sketch. On finding this film on Short of the Week I learnt that it was part of a competition in 2012 where five films were based on the same script by Geoffrey Fletcher himself. Of the five only two were interesting ROOM 8 and THE MRS. As THE MRS. has no IMDb page, I can only really comment on Room 8. As I said earlier, Room 8 is more of a sketch then it is a short film because it has no real story but a demonstration of how to achieve good CGI effects on a generous short film budget. (By the way, I am still puzzled where the budget was spent on THE MRS.) Where The Mrs. has a clear story with an imagined back story of two interesting characters; Room 8 does not invite us to invest any emotion in the characters or story. All the while we are led towards an awesome revelation; an awesome effect. And all the while I was asking but why is this happening? Why is the antagonist doing what he is doing? Once again based on pure production value, under so called short is paraded as being good but alas so called curators and decision makers are handicapping filmmakers and writers by celebrating the spectacle instead of celebrating the need for story. I am sure possible readers of this review and other reviews by me will say that I am expecting too much but my response to them is WHY NOT? If I am to give up 7 minutes or more to watch something, I would like for it to be awesome on the whole.
