REVIEWS

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Directed by Nolan Schmidt/ Reviewed by Biplab Das

Reaper Island Part II is an 18-minute long short film that showcases how an ordinary journey turns into a bloody affair. Shot on a handheld camera looks quite amateurish. There is no plot as such. The movie is a series of events. The film also shows the dark belly of American culture. The film starts when a couple reaches Reaper Island. They looked a bit perplexed about what to do. The guy’s view was different from the girl’s. The guy, a bit bulky, was adamant in exploring the island, and on the other hand, the girl was not ready for that.

She also pointed out a signboard stating trespassing not allowed. Their argument started to reach a point when a skinny, odd-looking, and weird man started shouting out of blues. His shouts and behavior made them scared. But after a few moments, he insisted the couple explore the island. He also escorted them deep into the island. They were having a discussion; suddenly that weird skinny man brought out a knife under his shirt and stabbed the man. And that showed the first sign of blood on the screen. Watching her boyfriend dead, the girl started screaming loud. And out of blues, came a man wearing a black robe and a mask. He had an ax with him and started to chase the girl who started running frantically. But the robe-wearing man was also behind her. Then out of the blues, another guy arrived. He killed the robe-wearing man with a sickle. The girl looked quite relived but bereaved with his boyfriend’s death. The guy who saved her started to advise her to leave the place, but she was adamant. Then suddenly the man who killed her boyfriend attacked the guy who saved the girl from behind.

The fight began immediately. The guy who saved the girl started shouting run, run. The girl had no option but to run. She left the deserted part of the island and went to the residential section of the city. She knocked on a door, and a blind man opens the door. She asked for help, and the blind man happily agreed to it. The girl was relieved after receiving such the kind gesture of the man. She also hugged the man as a return of the gesture. The blind man gave her a glass of water. But after drinking that, she felt dizzy. When she woke up, she found herself inside a basement of a house, the blind man’s house.  The blind man started saying how he became blind and the circumstances that caused him to lose his beloved wife. That incident completely changed him. He decided to kill everyone who visits the island. In the basement, there was also a skeleton of a human that the blind man had killed before. Seeing everything, she started screaming. Completely ignoring her screams, the blind man started ascending towards her with a huge sickle.

The moment he decided to slit her throat, the skinny man who killed the girl’s boyfriend entered the room. Watching him, the blind man became excited and started feeling charged up. He then wanted to speed up the killing process. He was just ready to slit her throat, then the man who killed the boyfriend falls on the ground. Suddenly the guy who saved the girl entered the room and started to fight with the blind man. The blind man finally succumbed. The guy rescued the girl. However, the blind man tried to stop her. But this time she didn’t take any help from anyone. She cut the man’s throat and left the room. However, the man who saved her didn’t leave the room. He decided to blow up the entire building. And he did that. The director, producer, and writer of the movie Nolan Schmidt depicted a dark side of American society. At the end of the film, it has also said that why it is paramount to save girls.