By Forris Day JR
In the Australian made dark comedy “Offing David” two pals, Matt (Adam J. Yeend) and Adam (Richie Harkman), decide that their acquaintance David (Nathaniel Buzolic) must die for his unfaithfulness to his girlfriend Sarah (Asha Kuerten). They get together with David and knock him off. They plan to get rid of the body as soon as it is dark, but as luck would have it a series of events unfold that makes that nearly impossible. So in the meantime they must hide David’s body in a closet in the apartment.
The plot thickens as David’s girlfriend Sarah plans a party at the apartment, so now the two bungling criminals must find a better spot to hide David’s body. All the while David’s phone bounces around from party guest to party guests nearly giving away the duo’s dastardly deed. Will these two pay for their crime or can they hang on and outsmart everyone? Will anyone figure out that the mystery phone is David’s? Why are the steering wheels on Australian cars on the opposite side as ours? All of these questions are answered in “Offing David”…except for the steering wheel one.
The film is produced and directed by Jeffrey Michael Bays who pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock in the movie, through his use of cinematography and point of view shots that are the essence of a great Hitchcock film. Bays is a Hitchcock scholar who understands how to tell a story using action and reaction as opposed to wordy dialog. The film is fun to watch and the story is interesting to follow. I found it suspenseful as I wondered throughout the film if the bad guys were going to be caught. I love Hitchcock films and enjoyed the scenes that reflected Hitchcock’s influence. The movie moves along at a comfortable pace and never has any dead moments, well, except where David gets killed. (Sorry…bad joke.)
Don’t worry if you miss any of the “Hitchcock moments”. The DVD has a cool featurette that compares every Hitchcock scene in the movie to the actual Hitchcock movie scene that inspired it. A fun featurette indeed. I also enjoyed the Visual effects featurette as it held some wonderful surprises to some special effects that I did not realize were effects created in post.
Overall a well made suspense/dark comedy that is fun to watch and keeps you searching for the Hitchcock moments. I also want to note that the music by Joao Camacho was impressive and really added an air of mystery and suspense throughout the film. I wasn’t expecting that in a low budget film. The movie is well worth watching and the DVD has lots of extras that will teach you a bit more about how the film was created.
Rating: 8/10 – “Paying homage to Hitch”
Purchase “Offing David” and see the trailer
Learn more about Producer/Director Jeffrey Michael Bays
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