I Said POLICE!
Main Cast: Sophia Davey, Cassandra Magrath
Director: Mia Kate Russell
Sisters Liz and Ellie are driving late at night to, I’m assuming, their mother’s house for a birthday. Mom has moved out into the sticks, it seems, and Liz has only been there once in the last eight months, so isn’t entirely sure where she’s going. Meanwhile Ellie is regaling her sister with stories of working in the ER when she, Ellie, decides she needs something to eat.
Liz stops at a small gas station that turns out to be closed, but before Ellie can get back in the car, another car pulls up, a man covered in blood jumps out and ushers Ellie into his car. As Liz looks on, she sees a woman in the back seat, also covered in blood.
Liz gets into her car, calls the police, then drives away. The other car starts following her, but Liz is able to force it off the road and when she swings back to check on the accident, she realizes that not everything in this situation was at it seemed.
I won’t spoil what she finds, but I also won’t encourage anyone to find out. For me, LIZ DRIVES, from writer director Mia Kate Russell is a bit meh. In fact, it was only through THREE viewings and reading the YouTube comments that I was able to tell exactly what was going on at some points.
That’s not to say Russell is a bad director—I’ve seen her follow up MAGGIE MAY, and quite liked it—but in this particular case, I think she had a clearer idea of the story in her head than she was able to put on film.
The acting in LIZ DRIVES was alright, I guess. Nothing stellar. Sophia Davey has a handful of acting credits, mostly in shorts (including Russell’s MAGGIE MAY), and she holds her own here. Again, I guess. And that’s not because I’m on the fence, I just don’t think she had a lot to work with in this one. It’s just over 7 minutes, and most of that is just driving and looking scared, which, I guess, she managed alright.
Cassandra Magrath (WOLF CREEK) as Ellie is in it for the first 2 minutes and still manages to bring more life to her character in that short time than Davey did over the course of the entire film. Whether that’s due to Russell’s writing of Ellie or Magrath’s portrayal, maybe a bit of both, doesn’t matter in the end because I’m not recommending this one.
Why not? Shrug, it’s just … it is what it is, and what it IS is NOT something I’m so excited about having seen it—THREE TIMES—that I feel compelled to make sure everyone else sees it so I can share this wonderful thing I’ve come across.
It’s a horror short because it says it is. There’s blood and terror. Mostly it’s a character study of the Liz character, but I’m not even sure we see her develop, grow, change, any of the things a character is supposed to do in a well-told story. I’m really just kind of blah on the whole thing, and that’s not how I want to feel after watching a horror film, whether it’s 7 minutes or 107.
I’m sure everyone here gave it their all, I just think the story was so thin, “all” wasn’t enough. However, I will definitely recommend Russell’s other short, MAGGIE MAY. Now THAT’S a good one.
You can watch LIZ DRIVES for free on YouTube.
C. Dennis Moore is the author of over 60 published short stories and novellas in the speculative fiction genre. Most recent appearances are in the Dark Highlands 2, What Fears Become, Dead Bait 3 and Dark Highways anthologies. His novels are Revelations, and the Angel Hill stories, The Man in the Window, The Third Floor, and The Flip.
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