Directed by Alexis Ramirez, from a script by Kayla Cooper, ‘Hybrid Hazards’ is a short horror film that uncovers the sinister objective of the singer of a teenage rock band. Julia Davo leads the cast as the lead singer Lavo, with Jesse Choy as her presumed love-interest/band-member Ned. Additional cast include; Stephanie Falciano as Megan (Lacy’s mom), and Peter Sansky-Traficanti as Tim. Despite an admirable musical arrangement (Joe Kowalski), the low-budget production will struggle to engage the viewing audience – due to its weak and peculiar narrative and inexpert technicality.
The 8-minute film opens with a commendable vocal and musical performance. In spite of the film’s promising start, albeit with amateur cinematography, editing and audio recording, the narrative dawdles into unexpected territory – with the failed intension to bring terror and trepidation. Unfortunately, the result is somewhat comical that makes a mockery of the horror genre.
Alexis Ramirez has missed a few filmmaking tricks with ‘Hybrid Hazards’ – particularly within cinematography and post-production. The entire cast deliver absurdly theatrical-like performances that doesn’t sit well on film – what emerges is an amateur/first time student production that will disappoint. Sound design is regrettably garbled throughout, which fails to be enhanced by the lack of flow of the edit. As mentioned, Kowalski’s composition and the cast’s musical delivery is the only commodity keeping this film afloat. An unforgettable watch – for all the wrong reasons.
