Penny Dreadful (2013)
A novice crook gets involved in a ransom plot, but winds up kidnapping the wrong girl.
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How sad is this?
I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
Penny dreadful: Whilst the term "penny dreadful" was originally used in reference to a specific type of literature circulating in mid-Victorian Britain, a variety of publications that featured cheap sensational fiction.I found it so funny using that name as the title when there's nothing cheap in this movie,a lot of effort was placed in this movie, specially in its actors,Dennis a nice guy who comets a criminal out of a desperation to please his girlfriend, naturally everything goes wrong and the black humor in the story comes to place,Oona Laurence stole the show as the Little girl that gets kidnapped, I was amazed how this little girl becomes from someone sweet to disturbing in seconds its like if she wasn't trying at all.It has a good production value and the acting is great, especially from Oona Laurence and David Stevens,it had a Coen Bro's vibe ,I was with the idea that it could have been a feature film with well put ideas this could be a great comedy, but as a short film it works even better.
This is a modern adaptation from 2 years ago about the famous "Penny Dreadful". It's a short film and runs for 17 minutes. The writer and director is Shane Atkinson and I cannot say this made me curious about his further works. It's all okay, not really bad, but not memorable either: the comedy, the setting, the music etc. Drama is not really existent in here, even if it is a film about a little girl being kidnapped. These people did not know what they were in for by abducting the little girl. Otherwise, they certainly would not have done it. All in all, I would not recommend this film. I hope Atkinson step it up a bit in the next years. He certainly shows an ounce of talent here and there in this short film.