Logline:
A dark comedy about a man who discovers that that his fiancé has kidnapped his high school bully for his 30th birthday with the hope that he’ll take his revenge.
Make A Wish is a twisted horror/comedy short film with an Asian Pacific American lead cast, writer, composer, and director. The film stars Edward Hong, Josephine Chang, and Roman Moretti and is directed by Dinh Thai. Having already picked up a Best Short, Best Editing (Liverpool Underground Film Festival) and a Best Actor (Josephine Chang; Sick ‘N’ Wrong Film Festival) award, Make A Wish is currently killing it on the festival circuit.
Short films are a staple of both the horror community and the festival scene and while easier to create than their feature counterparts, they could arguably be harder to master. You get perhaps ten minutes; ten minutes to bring a concept full-circle, ten minutes to flesh out potentially complicated characters, and ten minutes to weave a tale in its entirety. You have to slice, cleave and edit your film down to its most condensed form and then pray that you’ve put out the best cut.
Make A Wish manages to do exactly that. Running just under nine minutes, Make A Wish is a ballad of madness that will keep you entranced from start to end. Technically more of a dark comedy than a horror film, Make A Wish utilises all sorts of tongue-in-cheek snarks, self-deprecation and an unhealthy dose of gallows humour to have you either laughing madly or waiting fervently for the inevitable gruesome climax.
Josephine Chang’s Lexi really stole the show for me. Best described as effervescently evil, Lexi perfectly embodies that crazy ex that you remember with fondness and fear–you know the one–the sex was great but you knew she was planning some blood sacrifice to Baphomet. It is very clear as to why she walked away with that Best Actor (Non-gendered) award as well as another nomination for best actress from GenreBlast Film Festival. While Lexi bounces around in her chaotically evil ways, Brock and Freddie (Moretti and Hong respectively) fire back and forth in a hilarious exchange of racist, sexist and almost playful banter. The cast really seemed to be in total sync and just fired off quip after jab after gibe. Great performances all around.
The cinematography was excellent, the editing clean and concise, the sound and setting all working together–altogether just great filmmaking. Make a Wish is definitely going to be cleaning up on the circuit and you should–if possible–try and make a screening. I am going to add the upcoming screenings at the end of the article. You definitely will not be disappointed. Thanks for reading and as always, stay sordid. Trailer and poster below.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Short film IG/Twitter/Facebook – @makeawishfilm
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS & AWARDS/NOMINATIONS
* DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival – May 2020 (Washington, D.C.)
* Portland Horror Film Festival – June 19th, 2020 (Portland, OR)
* Monsterflix Awards – June 28th, 2020 (Brno, Czech Republic)
* Sick ‘N’ Wrong Film Festival – July 6th to 12th, 2020 (Orlando, Florida)
* Trí Rivers Film Festival – July 18th, 2020 (Strabane, Ireland)
* Something Wicked Film Festival – August 7th to 9th (Lawrenceville, Georgia)
* BELIFF – August 8th to 10th, 2020 (London, United Kingdom)
* Indy Film Fest – August 13th to 23rd, 2020 (Indianapolis, Indiana)
* Oregon Short Film Festival – August 17th, 2020 (The Dalles, Oregon)
* Happenstance Horror Fest – August 20th, 2020 (Barrington, New Hampshire)
* Macabro Horror Film Festival – August 25th to 30th, 2020 (Mexico City, Mexico)
* Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival – August 28th, 2020 (Buffalo, New York)
* Horrible Imaginings – September 1st, 2020 (Santa Ana, California)
* Threadbare Mitten Film Festival – September 3rd to 7th, 2020 (Lansing, Michigan)
* Summer in the South – September 4th, 2020 (Atlanta, Georgia)
* GenreBlast Film Festival – September 6th, 2020 (Winchester, Virginia)
* HorrorHound Film Festival – September 18th to 20th (Milford, Ohio)
* Nasty Frames Independent Film Festival – September 18th, 2020 (Ontario, Canada)
* Twin Tiers International Film Festival – September 18th to 20th, 2020 (Endicott, New York)
* FirstGlance Film Festival Philadelphia – October 2nd, 2020 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
* The Dead of Night Film Festival – October 3rd, 2020 (Liverpool, United Kingdom)
* Screamfest Horror Film Festival – October 2020 (Los Angeles, CA)
* Toronto Indie Horror Film Festival – October 14th, 2020 (Toronto, Canada)
* VOB Film Festival House of Horror – October 24th, 2020 (Carmel, New York)
* A Night Of Horror International Film Festival – November 2020 (Sydney, Australia)
* FilmQuest – April 8th, 2021 (Provo, Utah)
* Liverpool Underground Film Festival – May 24th, 2021 (Liverpool, United Kingdom)
* North Hollywood Cinefest – TBD (Los Angeles, CA)
* LA Asian Film Festival – TBD (Los Angeles, CA)
— AWARDS & NOMINATIONS —
* Liverpool Underground Film Festival – Best Short & Best Editing (June 2020 Edition)
* Sick ‘N’ Wrong Film Festival – Best Actor (Josephine Chang)
