Short Film Review: "Malediction" (2023)
Malediction Short Film Review
Written by Stuart D. Monroe
Written and Directed by Ali Chappell
2023, 15 minutes, Not Rated
Released in 2024
Starring:
Ali Chappell as Codi
Arielle Edwards as Creature
Ambrose Mullin as Dad
Tilly Davies as Young Codi
Bee Dawley as Voice of Lane
Fran Pinkerton as Woman
Serena Sernoskie as Young Lane
Diana Chappell as Nurse 1
Krissy Greenaway as Nurse 2
Review:
Malediction: (noun) A curse; execration
Addiction is a curse. Many of you reading this will feel the truth of this statement deep in your soul; even if you haven’t personally had to fight the demon, you probably know someone who has. It’s the proverbial gift that keeps on giving, a black and noxious package wrapped in a foul design that you simply can’t shake despite your best efforts.
After watching Malediction, I may need to check on Ali Chappell and see if she needs any support.
Codi (Ali Chappell; Necropolis: Legion) is staring down the horrors of heroin detox. She’s isolated in her family home with only the ghosts of her dead father and her childhood memories for company. It’s going to be a rough time, and she damn well knows it…but Codi isn’t prepared for just how much of a true demon addiction is. The cleaner she gets, the more the demon holds sway over her. Is she losing her mind? Is getting clean really worth it?
Malediction is the perfect title for this work. Addiction is a curse that never goes completely away. It merely allows you moments of brief reprieve before popping up again to remind you that you’ll never be fully yourself ever again. In a mere fifteen minutes, Ali Chappell builds a sense of dread with a deft hand and an unflinching eye for the pukey, uncomfortable ugliness that is withdrawal and detox. It’s a spot-on visual metaphor for this particularly lonely hell.
The demon itself (played by Arielle Edwards; Parasite Lady) is the apotheosis of darkness, swallowing the light around and firing it back out of pale, whitish-gray eyes. The creature design is simple yet stark. It works in skillful contrast to the natural sunlight streaming in through the windows of Codi’s empty, ghostly residence. Paired with musical cues that heighten the intensity, the effect is jarring. You feel Codi’s fear and the danger that she is in.
The cast is solid all-around and the creature/demon is menacing as all hell, but make no mistake about it- this is a one-woman show. Ali Chappell turns in a nuanced and sublime performance. In between bouts of graphic vomiting, she’s a bundle of nerves and pain in a role that doesn’t offer much in the way of vocalization or exposition to let you know where she’s at mentally. Chappell conveys the horror of the curse of addiction with aplomb.
Malediction is a strong effort for a fledgling writer and director who’s coming into her own before our eyes. I can’t wait to see what she does next, be it in front of or behind the camera.
