Writer and Director Jacob Thompson’s “Vultures” is a short teeming with feature film potential. There isn’t a ton of exposition or extrapolation on the world he’s unfolding, but considering the limited budget, I think we get the point pretty well. Thankfully with a lot of good editing and direction we catch on almost immediately and garner a glimpse in to a pretty terrifying world.
Kai Hohman plays a hunter who is living alone in the wilderness. Still reeling from the deaths of his wife and son, he spends his days looking for food and surviving. He barely makes it through the nights as he’s constantly hunted by gigantic vultures. Apparently now becoming the apex predators in the world, he inevitably comes across a pair of survivors. Attempting to save one of the pair, he tries to make it back home before dark.
There are a ton of questions I had with “Vultures” like where did the vultures come from? How did they become the apex predators? Are they mutated? Why do lights hurt them? Do they hunter other animals? Why are they nocturnal? In either case, “Vultures” works with what little it gives us well, providing some great suspense and some interesting looks in to this weird world. Despite the limited budget, director Thompson also gives us a peek at the vultures with glimpses at their massive size and features like their eyes.
This injects an interesting dose of terror, while Thompson is able to successfully punctuate how large and powerful these animals are. I’d love to see how these vultures are affecting areas like towns and cities, and how humanity probably lost this battle. In either case, “Vultures” is a good monster movie and survival short with strong direction, ace editing, and a very interesting concept.
Hitting the Festival Circuit soon.