Better Safe Than Sorry

Director - Dylan A. Young (Good Mourning, Veronica: Skeletons in the Closet)

Starring - Rae Hunt (Curse of the Nun, Another Apocalyptic Zombie Movie), Bella Martin (Ouija Craft, The Alpha Test, and Brad Belemijian (Blood Ranch, Painted in Blood)

Release Date - 2021

Genre - Horror

Format - Streaming (TromaNow)

Rating (out of 5):

     I don't get to review shorts as much as I used to.  Before the pandemic it felt like I was being asked to review a horror short every other day.  Now, however, the requests are few and far in between.  I dig horror shorts because they tend to be quick and to the point where most feature length films have so much wasted time with pointless dialogue and filler scenes.  A few months back I realized that a Facebook friend of mine, Dylan A. Young, was actually an indie filmmaker with several shorts under his belt.  I watched his short Veronica and was very impressed by it.  A few days back he hit me up to review his short Better Safe Than Sorry.  The film was just released on TromaNow and he was hitting me up to let me know.  I was curious about it and decided to log in and check it out. 

     The short follows a mother and daughter duo.  The daughter was on a date with a man when he gets a little too handsy.  Soon he is tossing her phone from the vehicle and starts forcing himself on her.  She uses a taser that was given to her by her mother but that doesn't stop him.  She continuously shocks him until he becomes unresponsive.  When she tells her mother of the incident her mother continues to protect her young and disposes of the body for her.

     I had no idea what Better Safe Than Sorry was about prior to my initial viewing.  I knew the artwork for the film looked fucking fantastic which made my mind race with the possibilities.  What we get was a film with a great story that works for the eight minute run time.  Its straight to the point and a lot of fun without over staying it's welcome.  The acting in this one is great.  The cast is small consisting of three members where everyone works great together on screen.  Rae Hunt and Bella Martin work so well together. We don't have a lot of time to enjoy their on screen chemistry but we still get a solid, yet short, performance.  The story for this one works very well and makes great use of it's short run time.  The film following a mother who has no boundaries when it comes to protecting her daughter could have went multiple ways.  It could have been a very effective drama as well but the choice of adding a dismemberment scene makes it feel right at home with the genre we love.  Finally, the film has some blood and some old school camera tricks with editing to pull off the gag but for those of you looking for buckets of blood and a great amount of gore will be very disappointed.  Overall, Better Safe Than Sorry is a well polished short with a solid story and great cast.  I highly recommend checking this one out if you have TromaNow.  It's well worth the eight minutes and you will not be disappointed.