Felo-de-se

Director - Jon Devlin (Erecting a Monster, The Missing Left Sock)

Starring - Jon Devlin and Jessica Reagan Asher 

Genre - Horror

Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Near the tail end of September I made a post on Facebook asking filmmakers if they had any films that needed review for the site. I needed a couple more movies to round out my October horror binge. I did not expect the response the post received. I had several filmmakers send over 100 films my way for review. I was going to begin turning people away at a certain point because I did feel overwhelmed but I decided to just mark them all down in the order I had received them and review them all without the time crunch of doing them all in October. One film is a short from Erecting A Monster director Jon Devlin. The short, Felo-de-se, is around 5 or so minutes long and though it does have a rather short run time, I decided to wait until after October so I could give the film the attention it deserves. I want to thank Jon for the support he has sent Horror Society and myself over the years. I truly appreciate it. 

      The film follows an awkward man who has built an unhealthy obsession with a woman in his neighborhood. What he doesn’t know is that this woman he has secretly been stalking is reaching her breaking point and is considering something drastic. When he finally gets brave enough to confront her his warped sense of knowing her leads him to a situation that he never expected. 

      I’m an ignorant guy and I’m fairly certain my reviews paint that picture. I’m not a smart man by any means and it blows my mind every time a filmmaker asks me to review their movies. I say this because I had no idea that Felo-de-se meant suicide. I had no fucking clue but as I was putting this review together I discovered that it was a fairly used term that can be found in some popular films, television, and music. Now, looking back at the film and it’s title I feel like a fool but I am glad I went into it not knowing it’s meaning because I think it would have taken away from the ending. The acting in this one is great. It’s a very small cast but the two work very well together. Devlin has showed a wide range of acting through his various shorts and features but this one is probably my favorite type of character he’s portrayed. The awkward and creepy characters are rarely done correctly but Devlin goes all in. I loved the character and would seriously love to see him tackle another role with a similar character. His female co-star, Jessica Reagan Asher, is great as well. She does a great job in her role which is impressive considering her imdb page has no other credits under her name. It would be a damn shame if she doesn’t appear in other genre efforts. The story for this one is short, sweet, and mostly to the point. Not knowing what Felo-de-se means did leave me unprepared for the ending which I think is the best way to see this film. While the title does fit the short I would suggest changing it so those that are familiar with the phrase would not miss out on the shocking ending. I love the build up and how the ending hit the viewer. Finally, the film has some blood but those expecting a gory short will be very disappointed. The film doesn’t really offer up any type of make-up effects but the point of the story is the characters and the situation they find themselves in and not the red stuff. Overall, Felo-de-se is a solid short from Jon Devlin. He’s a fantastic actor and one hell of a filmmaker who I wish would stop teasing us with shorts. Fucking make a feature film already!