Simon's Quest

David: Hello everyone! Today’s Double Feature Preacher review is on Simon’s Quest, which features the story of a young gay man who recently was turned into a werewolf as he goes about the business of figuring out how to date now that he is a monster. The film features actors Johnny Pozzi, and Timothy J. Cox, as well as several others. Check it out on IMDB here.

I wasn’t sure what direction the film was going to go in when it started. It starts in a fairly horrific manner, with Simon taking a bunch of pills in order to put himself (and his inner monster) to sleep during the full moon. It also is presented at the beginning of the short like you aren’t sure if the monsters are real or if they are just figments of everyone’s imagination. Really, the fact that this is a short and there weren’t any transformations makes it feel as if this could be totally in everyone’s heads - but I choose to think that monsters are real. What did you think Shannon?

Shannon:  I completely understand the thoughts on that, I had the same ones. For majority of the short film I assumed that this werewolf thing was something psychological in Simon’s brain, but as the film progressed I believed more and more for the monsters to be true. With the help of the TV ad, I also choose to believe that the monsters are real in this short film and are walking among humans. Plus that’s more exciting right?

As far as the characters, I liked how the film presented itself like a documentary. How did you feel about this filming when it comes to the content of the plot?

David: I liked the fact that it presented itself in this manner. It made everything a bit more relatable, though I would have preferred if the documentarians weren’t presented as his friends. It takes away from the documentary aspect, and instead almost makes it feel like found footage.

I will note that there are so moments that do not work. There is a moment where they seem to be playing catch in the park, which I guess is supposed to be played for laughs. Not only did this joke not land for me, technically, it’s not done very well. It’s a challenging aspect to filmmaking to shoot outside, particularly in an open area, and even more so if it’s windy. But to so obviously dub over this scene with audio recorded later pulls back the realism of the story that is gained by the documentary format.

However, one of the things that works really well is the “Afflicted Support Group”. I really liked the idea that monsters would need to come together and talk about what it is like to be a monster. It’s got to be a heavy thing to… WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND EAT BABIES??? Hands down the most disturbing and funny part of the film. Did you like the support group Shannon?

Shannon: Yeah, I remember feeling like the relationship that the documentarians had with Simon was a bit strange and didn’t help make it feel more like a documentary, but more like found footage. To me it felt strange because I don’t think they were his friends, but wanted to be his friends. Or perhaps even prove that the whole werewolf thing was bogus. I also thought that scene in the park was not done so well. I can’t say I noticed the sounds (or at least don’t remember noticing), but the whole scene was just done strangely and the dialogue wasn’t great. I also agree that it fell completely short of being funny, but I can see how they tried to add that in there.

I did like the “Afflicted Support Group” aspect of the film. I think those scenes are what really helped me determine that the monster thing was real and not psychological. I thought that was smart to throw a support group in there to help the plot as Simon accepted the fact that he was now a werewolf. The thing I was not too fond of was the inclusion of the guy that turned him, did you think that helped the film or think it wasn’t necessary like I do?

David: I think it would have been better to end on a different note. By making the ending of the film about that guy, it shifts the focus away from the growing that Simon has done to this point. That being said, it probably helps to tie into the fact that Simon is gay, and continue the entire metaphor that they began with the “change” happening during a “one night stand”. It’s pretty clear what they were implying though, so forcing this in there is a bit unnecessary. I would have preferred for Simon to meet a new gay werewolf at his party for the ending, but hey, that’s just me.

Overall, I think that the film was fairly well done, with some small criticisms and technical snafus (Is that still a word?). I’ll probably end up giving it a “C+”. What’s your rating Shannon?

Shannon: I agree with you David, the film is done fairly well, but there are a lot of quirks that I had some small criticisms on. I’ll give it an “Okay” rating.