The last 18 months have been tough for everyone as the world has battled with the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. The unexpected global crisis has brought everything to a screeching halt and we’re still battling it, even though a successful vaccine programme here in the UK has been rolled out. As people’s mental health has plummeted and we’ve become increasingly isolated from our fellow man, it’s not surprising that film-makers have looked to the pandemic for inspiration.
‘Isolation’, which had its World Premiere at Arrow Video FrightFest, is a collection of nine shorts that spotlight people in different parts of the world as they deal with being isolated. There’s a virus at play, heightened for effect here, and we get to see how different people deal with it. Across the nine shorts, the stories play into many of the fears and conspiracy theories that have done the rounds over the last year. The London set ‘It’s Inside’, from directors Alix Austin and Keir Stewart, finds a conspiracy obsessed young woman who believes that she’s being spied on by the government causing her to inflict self-harm in a bid to find the listening device she’s convinced has been planted on her.
In ‘Meat Hands’, by Adam Brown and Kyle I. Kelley, a man longs for human contact as he tries as he struggles with being home bound alone. He resorts to defrosting some mince-meat to stuff into plastic gloves so he can feel like he has company. It’s certainly one of the quirkier shorts here but it’s very good. In ‘Homebodies’, from director Alexandra Neary, a cut-throat reporter orders her cameraman to get her some footage that will garner attention and ratings on the TV network she works for. Sick of seeing empty streets, she instructs him to do what it takes leading the cameraman to enter a home for a ‘Rec’ style horrific experience.
Perhaps the most effective short here is ‘Pacific Northwest’ where two young children are left alone with no parents to look after them. Together they have to escape from a man wearing a terrifying mask, and they only have one another to rely on. The short could be taken as a metaphor for those of us that have lost loved ones during a pandemic that is more harmful to older people than younger. Director Bobby Roe crafts a gripping and unsettling tale that is the standout of the bunch.
‘Isolation’ is an entertaining collection of stories and it will be interesting to see how it goes down with audiences. We’re quite possibly at the point of fatigue now with the pandemic and it could well be that people simply don’t want to spend any more time with it. That would be a shame as ‘Isolation’ is a smart and timely series of stories that puts a darker edge to the events of the last 18 months. Not every short hits the mark but when it’s good, it’s pretty darn addictive.
Cast: Alex Weed, Marieh Delfino, Dennie Gordon, Bobby Roe, Damien Gerard Directors & writers: Alix Austin, Adam Brown, Larry Fessenden, Dennie Gordon, Andrew Kasch, Kyle I. Kelley, Alexandra Neary, Christian Pasquariello, Zach Passero, Bobby Roe and Keir Stewart Certificate: 18 Duration: 104 mins Released by: Ghost Gang Productions
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