HELLYFISH

“Hellyfish” is a 12 minute short film written by Patrick Longstreth, it’s also directed by him as well as Robert Mclean. I stumbled across the Imdb page for this cool little creature feature a few months ago. I have to say thanks to Patrick and Robert for allowing me to watch a screener before the films official online release, it’s coming October 24th. Hellyfish is about a nuclear weapon that’s missing and currently leaking radioactive waste into the ocean just off of the coast of Tybee Island, GA. A devastating Jellyfish attack is about to hit a group of unfortunate beach-goers whose day of fun in the sun might be over (haha).

THE GOOD

Hellyfish has a cool and eye-catching 80’s style poster that I hope I can get my hands on at some point. The introduction and closing credits are really cool, like something out of a graphic novel, some very impressive illustrations. The production value of this short is great. It’s got some crisp clear audio dialogue, along with some impressive camera work and editing.

There is some fun, cheesy humorous one liners from several of the different personalities on the beach and some crazy digital effects work on the giant Jellyfish. I particularly enjoyed the final scene with the “Mother” reminded me of another creature feature film called “Frankenfish”. The score was a nice addition too. Everyone involved in this looked like they were having a lot of fun.

THE BAD

Given it’s only 12 minutes long I can’t really say anything was a letdown with Hellyfish. I thought the accents and acting in the opening scene was a bit uneven, but it’s not that important because it’s just the starting point, the real fun follows. I thought the digital gore effects worked well enough because it’s such a short running time but it would have been great to see some cool practical effects, maybe some prosthetics for the wounds.

Hellyfish is a blast! I can’t wait for this thing to go viral on October 24th. For fans of all the creature features like Sharknado etc, are going to dig this. Like most short films they are just that, too short. I think Hellyfish is begging for a full length feature to be made and I’m so onboard with that if and when it comes time! This is the first film for these lads and they do it bloody well!

My rating for “Hellyfish” is 7.5/10