User reviews

"Don't mess with the Sharkies", a short film by Swiss author/director Richard Rabelbauer, impresses with multi-layered screen writing, a very strong female lead, dark humour and – for a short film – highly above average production values (featuring awesome locations from around Berlin, Germany). The sound design and the CGI scenes at the end are particularly well done. You can sense this is a labor of love where great attention to every conceivable detail was paid. The plot makes you think for many days as there are several levels in how you can comprehend this story. Rabelbauers's genuine concern for endangered species is coming through strongly, but not in a patronizing way at all.

Set in the post-apocalyptic future, this Swiss film centers on two of the few survivors of the human race, a very young priest and a heavily- pierced young lady. Both spend their time looking for food and avoiding the 'Sharkies'...whatever these creatures are. Apparently, the Sharkies have destroyed most of the human race and have hunted them to virtual extinction in this sci-fi short. Not surprisingly, it's tense and I found myself on the edge of my seat because I kept expecting something to happen to this young couple. However, where all this goes is pretty weird--especially when you eventually learn where the Sharkies came from. The film is dark, tense and, surprisingly, rather funny as it ends. Additionally, I was really surprised at the quality of the special effects, as you eventually do get to see the Sharkies....and they are simply incredible and not something you'd expect in a relatively low-budgeted picture. I sure would love to know how they created the Sharkies for this film!

'Don't mess with the sharkies' is competently made. Depicting the ruins of a post-apocalyptic world where human dominance of the planet has been toppled by other intelligent beings, the short mostly takes the form of found footage, a video recorded by two unlikely human survivors on a camera they found. Filming locations and set pieces look good, as do makeup and wardrobe contributions.

For all but the last two minutes of the short, though, the film is indistinguishable from countless similar tales that have been told before. Switch out "sharkies" with zombies, aliens, any other collective antagonist, and the audience couldn't tell any difference. Bonus points for the sudden appearance of the cat, but that only counts for so much.

In the last two minutes we're presented with a twist that is unexpected - and, I admit, a little clever. Our expectations are turned on their head, and the narrative's reversal of a familiar notion is played off with a pointed, sardonic air that I appreciate. It's a dry observant humor on hand, good less for a laugh and more for an acknowledging smile, but I'll take it.

Yet that's where the short should have ended. That the meat of the feature is bookended with unnecessary title cards is a bit annoying, and the very final scene following the concluding expositional text - brief as it is - feels totally gratuitous. I understand that these aspects were an attempt to solidify the mild humor of the film, but they're not meaningfully funny, and thusly all the more superfluous.

'Don't mess with the sharkies' isn't bad, but it's mostly unremarkable, partly dispensable, and not witty enough with the closing spin to truly spark the imagination. It's a fair view if you come across it, but don't go out of your way to seek it out.

Not only for the end but for the craft. A short film having as main virtue the fine way for use different problems from near reality, proposing not answers but interesting perspectives about them. A young woman and a priest. Beautiful cinematography and a story about survive, obscure menace and dialogue reminding existentialist plays. And something who can be defined as twist. So, in good sense, a surprising film.