March 28, 2024

Red Love (2014) – An Effed Up Murderous First Date

Red Love (2014)Red Love (2014) is a new short film from writer / director James McDougall.  It stars James Morely and Gillian Wetherald as Sam and Judy… two serial killers who meet serendipitously while attempting to murder one another. Once they realize they are one in the same they embark on an incredibly disturbing and fucked up first date.

SPOILER ALERT: This review WILL talk openly about the plot of the film. If you want to experience the film as it was intended watch it before reading this review. Full film is embedded at the end of this post. 

Plot

The plot here is pretty straight forward. Two serial killers meet one another in the woods when they quickly realize what one another is. Rather than carry out their plots, they decide to strike up a conversation about their murders and ultimately decide to prey on the “walking meatbag that deserves to die the most.”  That ultimately ends up being a parking cop.

The next scene shows parking cop tied up and Judy and Sam take turns plunging their knives into his gut. We then get a sort of Ross & Rachel moment with two killers rolling around in the leaves playfully kissing before they return to the cop to finish him off by slitting his throat. Fucked up to be sure.

Thoughts & Recommendation

With a run time of just under 12 minutes Red Love does a pretty damn good job of showing us just the type of characters we’re dealing with.  Keeping the cast very small (only 3 people) helps too.  Often times short films have a tendency to pack way too many people into their casts and it’s something I really have an issue with.  Thankfully, Red Love doesn’t make that mistake.

Both of the leads here play their parts well. Gillian Wetherald is a little bit “stiff” at the beginning of the film but she warms up quickly and actually gives a pretty nice little performance complete with nearly orgasmic eyes as she slits the cop’s throat in the climax.  And yes… I chose the word “climax” rather intentionally as we get what I can only describe as two “money shot facials”… one for Judy and one for Sam.  (Or maybe I’m just a pervert… you be the judge.)

Speaking of Sam, James Morley is great here.  He’s got a serious Dwight Schrute thing going on here if Dwight was a serial killer.  Well played.  There’s actually a sort of “wholesomeness” there when he suggests he’ll kill a man with Judy.

The only real issue I had with the film is with Michael Pez. And I don’t even think its necessarily his fault. I’m lucky enough never to have been stabbed in the gut or to have my throat slit.  I can say that his death here seems to take forever. Based on other horror films I’ve seen and my horror movie educated guess, I’m thinking that he’d be doing a hell of a lot more than whimpering after being stabbed 47 times and he’d be dead WAY sooner once his throat were slit.  Small issues really, but wanted to point them out.

Red Love is a great little short film that I’d definitely recommend you watch, which you can do below after you take a look at some movie stills.  Thanks to director James McDougall for sharing the film with us!

You can learn more about Mountain Man Media and Red Love on their Facebook fan page or at the film’s IMDB Page.  Follow writer / director James McDougall on Twitter (@ActorJamesMcD).  Make sure to give them a “like” and a “follow” and tell them ScareTissue sent you!

Check out the full film below and leave us a comment to let us know what you think!

Chewie

I've been a fan of horror and slasher movies for as long as I can remember. I consider the original Halloween to be the best horror movie of all time and my guilty pleasure horror flick would be The Exorcist III. You can find me on Twitter at @406Northlane or TikTok @406Northlane where I'm sure I'll offend you at least once a day.

View all posts by Chewie →
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