DoNotDisturb

Do Not Disturb (2009)

For any of you guys that follow the website at all you know that one of my favorite independent filmmakers is Patrick Rea. I’ve talked about many of his short films and he is prominently featured on the independent filmmakers spotlight page. Do Not Disturb is his latest short film with a runtime of about 15 minutes.

The entire short takes place in a hotel room. We see a man with a gun watching the news. Very quickly we realize that he is responsible for several murders and might actually be a serial killer. There is a knocking at the door, and after accidentally killing a maintenance man the killer starts to get cards shoved under the door. They say things like “I know who you are” and “I’m your biggest fan”. Here things pick up and the tension starts to build until he gets a card that instructs him to open the door. I’m not going to spoil what happens from there, but needless to say this as most of the other short films of Patrick Rea ends with another satisfying twist ending.

I’ve said it in almost every review that I’ve written for these short films and I’ll continue to say it. Why won’t someone give Patrick Rea some money to make another feature length film? This guy can do more with 15 minutes and a limited budget than most filmmakers can do with a stack of cash and a feature length runtime. Here he establishes the character and builds a lot of tension, all while telling a very creepy story. I don’t know why the cards under the door are so scary, but they are. Of course this is just a build up to what we are treated to later on.

Lets talk about the technical bits and pieces of the movie. As always the picture and sound couldn’t be any better. I’ve yet to see a Patrick Rea project that was less than stellar in any of these areas. In addition to the solid filmmaking there is also a neat effect with a room service cart that works nicely and only adds to the creepy atmosphere.

Well I guess this is a short review for a short movie. This is another excellent short film from the master, and yes I have no problems saying this after seeing as much of his work as I have. Check in with the SenoReality website for more information on where you can check this out.

3 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer