THE SPECIAL ** USA 2020 Dir: B. Harrison Smith. 94 mins
Suspecting his wife of infidelity, Jerry (Davy Raphaely) takes the advice of his best friend that “the best revenge is revenge” and heads to a brothel. Not tempted by what is of offer, he is intrigued by the so called ‘special’ which is alone in a room. To his surprise, the so called ‘special’ is a box with ‘stick it in here’ written above a hole. Naturally, Jerry does what every man would probably not do and proceeds to place him member into the hole. The result is the best sex he has ever had. What follows is his addiction and obsession with the box to the detriment of all those around him, including his pregnant wife.
What could have been a fun ten minute short film is expanded way beyond tolerance to a full length feature film. Director B.Harrison Smith handles the mood and some of the later body horror scenes well, but this is painfully obvious from the start and with no likable characters to follow it really becomes a chore. The special effects towards the end and the lighting are certainly impressive and will be a good payoff for those caught up from the beginning, but for everyone else this is a real slog to get through. Good concept for a short film, not nearly enough style or originality to sustain a whole film.
Review by Ben Underwood
THE SPECIAL IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON