The short drama thriller “Bullified” as directed by Steve Sage Goldberg gets in to the inescapable pit of the question “Why?” I kept asking why through most of “Bullified” and when I was finished I wasn’t quite satisified. Surely “Bullified” has potential. With some nipping and tucking and tightening of logic, “Bullified” could be a very good thriller with a moral, but as it is, it’s neither here nor there in its intent.
It’s too much of a thriller to be taken seriously as a commentary on bullying, and it’s too serious about exploring bullying to keep audiences invested in its murder mystery. It props up a great idea with every reason to end up being this shocking and thoughtful thriller but never quite pulls it off. If the story spends much of its time trying to convince us that bullying is nurture and not nature, why does our villain’s actions support the notion that bullying is based on sociopathy and sadism? And while surely therapy is reliant on some form of exploring insecurity, modern therapy is reliant mainly on conditioning and reverse engineering the mind to overcome fears and trauma. The “exploitation” of insecurities is rarely a requisite when therapy is applied to someone who has suffered from a very crippling mental illness. I could surely buy a therapist spending their time exploiting and mentally destroying violent convicts, but wouldn’t there be some record of the therapists methods in regards to rehabilitation?
That said, Lee Kolinsky offers up an interesting idea for a premise in where a man named Riley has been accused of murdering a string of victims. These victims are related in that he spent a lot of his life taunting, tormenting, and bullying them. To make it worse, before they died, they were last seen talking to him. Most of them have moved on but are still scarred. But after he left jail, he ventured out to find them and apologize to no avail. Again, the question is why. Why should we still root for Riley when it’s never quite made apparent what his intentions were toward this mission? Did he do it all as a self serving means of clearing his conscience? Or did he really care for these people’s welfare? Why not send a letter or email?
The performances are pretty good, but much of the cast don’t quite sell the urgency of the scenario. I never felt the sense of emotional torment with the victims. However Russ Camarda is a very strong actor who helps keep the film afloat with his interesting portrayal of a reformed man who once delighted in inflicting pain. He’s very believable as this convict and even more so as a once violent bully. Bullying does has an overlong affect on its victims, surely, but when we find out why Riley became a bully, it veers in to slightly campy territory. He became violent because his bully took his granola bar every day and taunted him in front of girls? Sorry, but I expected much more. Rather than observe how bullying can taint everyone, and have a long lasting effect, “Bullified” enters in to a big reveal that’s sadly convoluted and very far fetched.
Did the culprit really follow Riley around everywhere he went to frame him just to assure they could write this book they had planned? And, if his therapist was smart enough to concoct this elaborate convoluted plot, why wasn’t she smart enough to know every session with her client would be taped and or watched by someone? Riley is a convicted serial killer after all. Also, why was she a bully? “Bullified” is by no means an awful short film, but one that could use a few re-writes before it becomes a marvelous short film. As it stands, it’s fairly serviceable, but never quite grasps what it’s trying to say to its audience.