I love Max R. Lincoln’s whole twist on the idea of people waking up in an abandoned warehouse and being tormented by a cruel game master. While “Rhyme or Die” sounds silly it actually manages to end as a very entertaining, gory and twisted short that uses the whole device of music as a test, rather than morality. Ironically the whole challenge of rhyming is used as a means of testing the morality of the players as we’re never sure what kind of weird games these people will play on one another to survive.
Five aspiring rappers wake up in an abandoned warehouse and force to literally rhyme for their life. Held hostage by the demented DJ named Dynamo, she elicits challenges to her hostages giving them a chance to freestyle for their freedom, or suffer a gruesome death by her automated collars.
In the film, the characters have wildly varied musical and rhyme abilities which add on to the tension. Hostage Kaye likes to show off her abilities, Colin opts for simplicity, Nidal thinks he’s an undiscovered genius, and young Eve lacks any and all confidence. The demented Dynamo is one of the more dynamic horror villains I’ve ever seen as she’s kind of Jigsaw, but if he were a music DJ. We learn absolutely nothing about Dynamo, but she does come off so much like a Batman villain at times, and I was grinning the entire time. The collective cast offer truly bang up performances, all the while I was so invested in seeing who would come out the victor and live to make it past Dynamo.
Truthfully I’d have loved to learn more about who or what Dynamo is, but Bethan Cullinane is so good in her villain role that it thankfully doesn’t hinder the overall film. “Rhyme or Die” is a neat concept I’d love to see realized further in to some kind of feature. Fingers crossed we get one down the road.