by Jason Lees, MoreHorror.com

I love watching short films, but normally only if they know that they're shorts. The difference between a short film and a feature (besides the obvious length) has more to do with subject matter and intent than brevity. Not many full length films could be condensed down to ten minutes and still convey any sense of story. It's like with novels versus short fiction.

It takes a unique set of creative muscles to tell a complete story in a confined amount of temporal real estate and make it work than to have that luxury of 90 plus minutes or 600 pages. For me, when I watch a short film, I always root for the flick that knows what it is and what it's doing and isn't trying to just be a demo reel for the proposed feature. I like the pacing and art of a good short film, and the honesty when its purpose is simple.

Now, having said that, Ace Jordan's short film KILL DEVIL HILL is basically the first ten minutes of what will be a full length film someday, and to make myself eat my own words, that's absolutely perfect. Right now, in the form it's in, "KILL DEVIL HILL" works, and against what I just said, it also makes me want to see more.

KILL DEVIL HILL follows two boys and their normal little family in a bit of slice o' life day to day normalcy before going all wonky, and when it does, the ten minute running time is about all I could stomach. No, it's not gonzo gore for gore's sake (and there ain't nuthin' wrong with that) but something palpable in its depiction of a bad day gone even worse. The short film status leaves you almost feeling like this is just an extended trailer until the last few minutes, when you realize that there may be nothing more to the story, and nothing more to any of us.

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it, which is another aspect of shorts that I love. With a feature, it's almost expected to get the whole story, where in a short you go in hoping to fill in the gray area yourself. This is what makes KILL DEVIL HILL especially effective since it walks the line between short and feature, a foot in each world, so you never are sure of its intent.

As a short, it's easily worth checking out, as a promo for a feature, it plays like a promise to disturb you the rest of way, right out of your comfort zone. Recommended.