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The Making of 'Broken' (2005 Video)
10/10
The most effective indie calling card we've ever seen. Hell, you could hand these two guys MI:3.
7 March 2006
The young lady's name is Bonnie (Polay). She's attractive, is apparently living a pretty decent life, but all of a sudden is inexplicably snatched from her home and life by Evil Dude and the Various and Sundry Evil Henchmen. Now she has no idea what the hell is going on, only that a bunch of armed-to-the-teeth people apparently want her dead...and she's going to die not even knowing why.

God, I hear the whining all the time. Now that content is so cheap to produce and people can create their own movies/books/comics/internal organs, there's going to be nobody to ensure that there's a standard of quality! We're going to be drowning in crap! The only people who actually think this are people who haven't watched any movies or read any books recently-- because we're already doing a dead man's float in crap. It's folks like Ferrari and Rodriguez who put the lie to these ignorant so-and-sos by throwing $8K on the table and making...well, what I would say is a better action flick than anything you've seen in cinemas this year...but you haven't seen any action flicks in the cinema this year. I've seen the box office. You're staying away in droves. You would do better to snag a copy of this, spend twenty minutes being entertained, and get on with your lives.

It's sheer entertainment. You enter, like Bonnie, with a lot of questions and where the whole thing ends up is nebulous. The whole conceit has been done before in multiple ways but not in such a compressed amount of time and not without such concentrated tasty gunplay. You're there for the atmosphere, the mystery, and the guns. That's it--that's all the filmmakers promise, and they deliver.

It warms the black pits of my heart to think this was made on such a budget. We get passed a goodly number of indie films around here, but seldom do we see anything as polished as this short is, and we've never seen one done in the action genre that looked this good. Hell, you could hand these two guys MI: 3 and it might draw me into watch it. The Bond franchise. Hell, anything. No, in fact, better yet: I'd like to see these guys make a feature on their own and stay the hell away from Hollywood. Whatever's out there killing the movie industry is no doubt infectious.

Best indie we've seen in a while and the most effective indie calling card we've ever seen. The DVD's $20 and has bonus features out the ass. Go take your movie ticket budget and put it towards this instead.
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Broken (I) (2005)
10/10
Broken DVD 10/10 - A must for any indie filmmaker or film buff!!
7 March 2006
"Broken" is a great "how to" disc. While the short film is cool, it really works better in conjunction with the DVD that offers great insight into how to make your own action/thriller on a small budget. Made for reportedly $8,000.00, director Alex Ferrari has crammed in some 100 special visual effects shots. And it looks terrific leaving you wanting more.

The story involves Bonnie who wakes up in her darkened apartment to be abducted by strange and dangerous folks. Skip forward to a warehouse or secret facility of some sort where Bonnie is strapped to an antique wheelchair surrounded by even more dangerous killers all of whom want a piece of her. But she doesn't know why. And neither do we. In time, she will be killed but the sadistic bastards want to have fun with her first.

More of a teaching film, "Broken" serves as the platform for special effects talent, director, and co-writer Ferrari to educate us on how everything is done. The amazingly power packed DVD is extremely instructive and even fascinating. Use of split screen showing the rehearsal and the finished scene is interesting and Ferrari humbly provides insight into the workings of making a action/thriller with little money.

I especially liked the recipe offered for making your own "guacamole gun." For those of you not familiar with this gun, it's a device that simulates what happens when a person is shot by a gun. It's gross and funny to see the experimentation process for the creation of this useful device.

Anyone who is thinking about making an action/thriller ought to have the "Broken" DVD in their library.

The Disc A must for anyone intending to make their own low budget action/thriller or anyone whose just curious about the subject.

Picture Quality: 10/10 The transfer is crisp and the picture lush. There is a portion of the DVD devoted to making DV look like film.

Sound Quality: 10/10 Sound was even good on extras shot during rehearsals. Of course, there is a portion of the disc devoted to sound and syncing.

Extra Features: 10/10 A teaching disc that includes fantastic extras.

The Final Word:

I liked the short movie fine, but when combined with a dynamite DVD loaded with extras that are content rich, this should be a essential part of any independent filmmaker's library.

Jonathan W. Hickman - http://www.einsiders.com
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