Good Samaritan, The
By John Oak Dalton • Aug 5th, 2004 • Category: HorrorA man and his young son are stranded at the side of the road and get a lift from a passerby, setting off the usual chain of events, in Bruce Naffah’s short The Good Samaritan.
Overall The Good Samaritan is adequately shot and averagely plotted, with a nominal nod to post-production, though an edgy turn from wrestler-turned-thespian William DeCoff is worth a look. DeCoff is a big-shouldered, charismatic presence that needs more elbow room to move around in than this project provides.
In fact The Good Samaritan seems so slight as to not really represent a fully-imagined short at all, with little shown in terms of backstory or resolution. Apparently the short is intended to be developed into a full-length feature titled Little Man, which hopefully would remedy the curtailed feeling of the piece.
Unfortunately The Good Samaritan cannot be judged on what could be, but has to be judged by what is; a serviceable but ultimately forgettable entry playing a familiar horror tune.
One star.
Update: August 11, 2004
The director of the piece, Bruce Naffa of Biac Films, wrote to MicrocinemaScene with some corrections/explanations behind the piece. Here is his e-mail to site administrator Jason Santo:
“Hi Jason, i would like to thank you for taking the time to review Biac Prods. short “ The Good Samaritan “. I would like to correct a few things about the review. At the end of the review the critic points out that this short will be based on a full length feature entitled “ Little Man “. The fact is that this short just happens to be a scene from the full length feature “ Little Man “, which is in post-production at the moment. Also for anyone who sees it, they might notice the fact that there isn’t any music to the scene. This was done intentionally as to increase the voyueristic feel for the scene for the audience. Thanx again, and am looking forward for when i am able to send you the feature when it is completed , sometime in early 2005.
Sincerely
Bruce Naffah
Biac Productions”
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John Oak Dalton is a Community Television Station Manager by day, and a DIY acolyte by night. In the 80s he made Super-8 movies and his own basement mix tapes. In the 90s he hosted a cable-access show and made his own zines and minicomics. In the 21st Century he began working with grassroots video and microcinema and writing b-movies, and has more than a dozen projects on the shelf, on screen, in development, or in production.
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