I’m not really sure if what I saw from director Jeff Thompson was the final cut of “From the Core,” but I’d say if anything, the major downfall to his horror short is lack of story and bad editing. There are many inexplicable moments that add nothing to the movie, and I was never sure what he was aiming for.
Especially when he never quite establishes moments of absolute terror. The film begins with three men running through the woods in horror, and they stop to look for food and water. Mysteriously, they find an apple tree, and the hungrier of the trio eats one, which begins rotting him inside out and turning him in to a zombie. “From the Core” looks as if it’s trying to pack in a lot of story in such a short time, and it doesn’t work at all.
The editing make the film feel choppy and haphazardly slapped together, while many scenes made absolutely no sense. Who screamed in front of the fire when the zombie lurked in the darkness? Are there other people being turned in to zombies from this tree? Is this just a case of payback for these three men? “From the Core” needs better editing and about ten more minutes of story to truly gel as a horror short. In its current state it watches like an awkward reel of footage shot in a rush.