Freelance

Having worked together on the 2021 feature thriller Rage, director John Balazs and producer Marlane Ghmed team up again and bring a dark psychological thriller starring Nicole Pastor, Jordan Fraser-Trumble, Stephen Degerano and Hannah Brooke and written by Mike Gerbino. The feature was an official selection at Monster Fest 2024.

Katie (Pastor) is a struggling freelance film editor. Performing assignments every now and then, she is having difficulties having a steady income and is facing financial problems. Then, she is contacted online by an unknown organisation who offers her well-payed freelance work editing a series of films. Katie accepts and she soon receives boxes at her doorstep containing the videos. To her horror, she discovers that the footage shows people being murdered. Could it be real? As Katie tries to find out the truth regarding the sinister videos and the people who send them to her while simultaneously attempting to further her career, her mental state proceeds to deteriorate.

What makes this feature watchable is the plot, the suspense and Pastor's performance. Once Katie begins working on the disturbing videos, her life turns upside down as she experiences nightmares that appear to be influenced by the gruesome footage and her cat suddenly becomes seriously ill. Desperate, she attempts to break contact with the sender of the videos but they seem determined to continue the arrangement and begin threatening her. On top of all this, she has a ruthless landlord to deal with. The heroine does her best to keep things together, maintaining her relationship with Guy (Degenaro), discussing plans to work on big projects with Kevin (Fraser-Trumble), who works in the film industry, talking to her mother (Elizabeth O'Callaghan) and building a rapport with a barista (Brooke). Poor Katie seems to have found herself trapped in a situation of fear and danger and the dark atmosphere is enhanced by Kai Chen Lim's ominous music.

With a duration that approaches two hours, the film feels overlong and the pace is slow. in some ways, narrative is split into two storylines, one involves Katie dealing with the nasty footage and the other follows her as she attempts to improve her life. Perhaps the screenplay should had spend less time on scenes that do not involve the source of her troubles.

Pastor certainly reveals her strong acting skills in this feature, depicting a young woman whose mental state is gradually collapsing, becoming miserable and antisocial. Her performance is one of the main strengths of the film and Pastor constantly succeeds in being dramatic. Regarding supporting characters, Fraser-Trumble and Degenaro play their part well, although their characters are not written in ways that makes them particularly interesting. However, the despicable man that Jasper Bagg plays stands out.

The story revolves around the film industry, particularly film editing and it explores the world of snuff film and cybercrime. Through Pastor's character, the feature works as a commentary about psychological deterioration, financial difficulties, isolation and also the idea of moving on to better things.

An editor who unwillingly gets involved with snuff films makes an intriguing plot and Pastor's performance is superb. Unfortunately, the lengthy duration and the slow pace negatively affect the viewing experience.

Freelance is scheduled to be released on the 28th of January 2025 through Radioactive Pictures AUS and NZ and Gravitas Ventures for North America.