Zygote: Volume 1

• Director: Neill Blomkamp
• Published: Sunday, July 12, 2017 on youtube.com
• Source: oatsstudios.com
• Time: 22:23
• Note: “Volume 1” with Zygote includes other short films available to watch online, directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie). Support for volume 2 calls for fan support, of which can be helped through the purchases of its DLC digital assets (video files, D assets, script, concept art). Visit oatstudios.com for more info.

Synopsis: “

Oats Studios and filmmaker Neill Blomkamp are pleased to announce the latest short film in the Oats Studios Volume I anthology, ‘Zygote’. Starring Dakota Fanning, a few people find themselves fleeing a creature made of human body parts.

Personal Thoughts: 

A good creepy short, with nothing too complex in social commentary, or too dumbed down for an average schlock horror. The set-up is unexciting, as mining colony’s in science fiction usually mean nothing good for anyone. Still, there is hope between the main characters, in a set-up that gives a little back story of the horror unleashed. The creature itself is scary, though at times feels a combination of John Carpenter’s The Thing, a monster from a sci-fi anime, and a bad dream. Such works well, for being in a low-budget short film. What works better, is the frantic danger that seems ever-present from the beginning, carried on by the pounding score and blinking, flickering lights. The interaction between the two main characters presents the futile hope that both can perhaps make it, but predictable only one in the end. I chuckled, where Dakota Fanning’s character tries out different fingers of the monster.

Otherwise, a good short of which I think is great for an anthology set. The rest I have not seen. Enjoying this quality, and being a big fan of Neill Blomkamp’s District 9, I will check out the rest and likely support his Volume 2 anthology.