Friend Request (2012) (Short)

(Screener Copy)

 Directed by Danny McShane


Written by Drew Jarvis and Danny McShane


Stars: Daniel Frawley, Caitlyn Paterson, Charlotte Chimes, Tyson Hargreaves, Josh Nasato, Jeremiah Kane, Tamara McLaughlin, Holly Chetcuti, Aleisha Groth






Cheers to Danny McShane for letting me check out his clever slasher short Friend Request. Directed by Danny and co written with Drew Jarvis, here is an exemplary way to entertain and satiate horror fans in just 25 minutes.

Friend Request tells the story of young high schooler David, a rather shy horror enthusiast who has the hugest of crushes on gal pal Ella. Ella seems to be torn before her feelings for Dave and her meathead boyfriend Cliff - who really doesn't like Dave! Fast forward to that evening and Dave is having a movie night with his pals, Anna and Pete which he also hopes Ella will turn up to. While he is waiting anxiously he gets the suprise of his life when he gets a Facebook Friend request from 'Jeremiah Kane'. Jeremiah Kane recently uploaded footage from his 'horror film' on Facebook, making Dave an instant fan. Accepting Jeremiah's friend request however, could well cost Dave and his friends their lives as Jeremiah isn't who he claims to be and is in fact a sadistic maniac who uses Facebook to stalk and slash victims - usually filming the acts.

After Ella and Cliff show up to the party it's time for the body count to rise as Jeremiah Kane starts taking out the teenagers one by bloody one. Can Dave survive the night? Will he finally get his girl? And will he stop accepting friend requests from total strangers?

Friend Request  is a 25 minute short horror film which excels in terms of horror and comedy. The commentary on all of the annoying features of Facebook are hillariously woven into the narrative - you have pokes, alerts, gifts, you name it. I also really loved the horror movie references which run constantly throughout. In particular the movie posters in Daves room and the Freddys Revenge jokes. I had literally just rewatched the rather dire sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street recently after years of ignoring and it just reminded me of the sheer gay subtext throughout it. These guys really do a marvelous job of making fun of this aspect. On top of this the film looks fantastic - its shot so well it could be a big feature film, I kid you not. The acting is also brilliant and the leads were obviously well chosen as both Daniel Frawley (Dave) and Caitlyn Paterson (Ella) both show a great deal of talent. The slasher scenes are also cool, the best one being an unfortunate girls throat slashing and Jeremiah Kane himself looks all kinds of creepy!

With my only real complaint being that this should be a feaure film (hopefully in the future) I would surmise by saying I cant wait to see what Danny and Drew come up with next. Whether its a 90 minute horror-thon or another inventive short such as this its bound to be one to watch out for!