Dir. Richard Powell (2018)
A husband gets a peek inside his wife’s mind during an accidental call.
CAUTION: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Hang Up! is about a man (Robert Nolan) who accidentally gets a butt dial from his wife, finding her talking on the phone with one of her friends. He goes to hang up, but right before he does he hears her say something that makes it sound like she might be cheating on him. Indeed she is, as we will shortly find out, but there’s oh-so-much-more than that. Turns out, his wife is a complete fucking sociopath, determined to achieve the life of her dreams before she wastes her youth, and her husband is on the phone listening to every sick, disgusting detail of her plan.
It takes an incredible actor to portray such emotion in a role with no dialogue, and Robert Nolan does an incredible job in this film of playing a desperately hurt husband as the silent half of the worst call in history. Astrida Auza, who plays the wife of whom we only hear her voice, is unhinged to the highest degree, delivering a performance that left me speechless. More than anything, director and writer Richard Powell gives us a look at the absolute edges of his mind, the part that teeters on the edge of hallucinatory madness to bring us a story that will stick in your head for days.
Hang Up! is incredible, an insanely disturbing short that would be totally fitting as a feature as well. I’m a huge fan of Fatal Pictures, as you could probably tell if you’ve read my earlier review of Familiar. Somehow, Powell & Co. up the ante of disconcerting cinema, because Hang Up! may well be their most disturbing film yet. Mind blowing film, highly recommended, and if you have the chance, check it out on YouTube. You won’t regret it if you love disturbing cinema, that’s for sure.
Who this movie is for: Short film fans, Disturbing horror lovers, Butt dialers
Bottom line: I still do not understand how Fatal Pictures isn’t a household name in horror shorts. Every single film they’ve made is absolutely incredible, and Hang Up! is no different. Auza is deliciously unhinged, Nolan gives a masterclass in silent acting, and Powell… Well, I’ll just say I went from being a fan to hoping I never meet him, because the man is totally deranged. Stellar, stellar, stellar film, I cannot recommend it enough.
