Keepsake (2019)

Keepsake (2019) - United States
Directed by: Nathan Hine

ABOUT THE FILM:
Keepsake is the latest endeavor from Pennsylvania-based film-crew Hardgore Core Productions. I had previously covered their short film The Last Days of Livermore, a short film that was surprisingly well-made and executed with heart and care.
Keepsake fares no differently, as we are presented with another eerie tale, this time about a man who meets up with a cutie at a restaurant. They make their way out to a ramshackle house that had been within the young lass' family for years. The man is skeptical, but is further enticed by a drug he is fed by the yonug beauty. Before entering the house, he sees some rather morbid premonitions of the neighbors waving severed hands at him, but he writes it off as a side-effect of the drug.
And then the two made their way upstairs..

REVIEW:
Similar to Last Days, there are still a few minor sound issues, such as dialogue that is difficult or even impossible to decipher at times. But beyond that minor error, this is another really solid effort from the Hardgore Core team!
Once more, the short is well-shot with plenty of smooth camera-work, and the location is perfect for the given scenario. The two main stars, Bob Vresilovic and Tiffany Laskey are perfect for their roles. Tiffany does a great job at balancing enticing and sexy with creepy and foreboding, and she pulls off her character very well.
The film takes its time to build up to its climax, and does a great job at building up tension by showing increasingly more creepy aspects of the house and of the neighborhood it lies within. And then we reach our climax, and are treated with one of the most uncomfortably long and drawn out murder sequences I've ever seen in a film. The camera does not shy away from the gore at all, as we are treated with extreme close-ups of the man's jugular as it is slit wide open. Many a gallon of arterial spray floods the bed and its surroundings; tissue and viscera is torn in excruciating detail, and the sound effects are nothing short of cringeworthy. The man is now a keepsake for her collection...
Crafted by the Hardgore Core crew, with additional props by James Bell, the gore effects and makeup are insanely well done and will easily satiate the gorehound's appetite.
And for the cherry on top of this crimson sundae, we are treated with a haunting and beautiful score by the talented Will England, which compliments the film well, in contrast to the usual use of extreme metal or noise in other gore films.
Overall this is a very solid short film from a group of talented and passionate filmmakers, and I can highly recommend it!

RELEASES:
-Keepsake was originally created for and is apart of the gore anthology film Followers of the Dead Light, orchestrated by our favorite Canadian sicko Yan Kaos!

-Keepsake was released on a limited edition DVD by Dead Vision Productions in 2020, but the DVD is out of print.