Street Fighter: Psychosis

Here is a nice treat for fans of the Street Fighter video game franchise, a fighting game that is one of the highest-grossing video game franchises ever.

This hugely entertaining short film was made by fans of the Street Fighter games and the result is certainly impressive. Fans will have the pleasure of seeing some of their favourite fighters come to life and do what they do best: fight.

Storywise, Ken Masters (Rozylo) and Eliza (Neil) are abducted by arch-villain M. Bison (Pringle), with the intention of forcing Ken to join him. They are taken to an isolated building, where one of Bison's chief henchmen Balrog (Bingham) gives Ken an injection and it is not long after that, when the contents of the syringe begin to take effect, causing an extremely chaotic reaction.

The mise-en-scene looks terrific and fans will most likely recognise fighters of the video game they have played as due to the clothing and haircuts, which resembles the ones in the game, thanks to costume designers Valerie Smith and Tina Tam. There are also people dressed in combat gear and holding guns and they look rather cool. Although the majority of the narrative takes place inside the building with limited lighting, a dojo scene is worth mentioning, where students are shown training and where the character of Ryu is also present.

Arguably, the strongest aspect here are the fight scenes and they include great choreography and it is rather awesome watching actors perform the same fighting moves as the video game characters, especially with the addition of the tense score. Composer Sean Calvo creates music that goes very well with the scenes and part of it brings in mind the video games. There are plenty of special effects and they look great. For sensitive viewers, it should be mentioned that there is also quite a bit of gore.

Adding to the awesomeness and fun, there are also scenes where health bars appear just like in the games and a 'K.O.' in stylized letters. These look super cool and are a clear reference to the games that this film is based on. The behind-the-scenes stills during the closing credits are a generous bonus.

Going to the acting now, the cast deliver energetic and amusing performances and it is obvious that they are having a lot of fun with their character.

This achievement had a lot of effort and creativity put into it and it is a must-see for fans of the Street Fighter universe. It clearly pays homage to this video game franchise and it is a lot of fun from start to finish. Unfortunately it ends.