The Wages of Sin!

Something strange and sinister is going on at a church cemetery.

A group of children playing at a churchyard accidentally encounter a woman named Martha (Deal) who is sleeping on top of a half-buried coffin. They head to the church and notify the priest (Evans), who finds Martha and proceeds to question her after she wakes up. The coffin belongs to her deceased husband and she claims that he has risen from the grave and is threatening her. What follows is a series of extraordinary events.

This short dark comedy is rather amusing and begins with a creepy tone and dark humour, before moving to crime thriller and horror territories. The film is a joy to view from the start right until the end. The audience wonders whether Martha is insane or whether there is something else happening. There are awkward and funny moments, nail-biting moments and the finale is quite mind-blowing. The dialogue is entertaining and there are unexpected plot twists. The narrative deals with themes regarding death, paying the consequences for one's actions and making decisions with the use of coin flipping.

The entire filming took place in black-and-white and the cinematography by Andrew Bradford looks great and provides a dark atmosphere, which goes very well with the plot. The sound and visual effects are rather impressive and the music by Erik Nordgren is entertaining, tense and dynamic and it is a fantastic contribution. The song You Might Say ends the film perfectly and credit also goes to the stylized closing credits.

The characters are interesting and the protagonists do a great job. Deal is convincing as a person who is nervous and frightened because she has gotten herself in a situation that she does not know how to get out of. Evans is amusing as a young priest who inadvertently gets himself caught in the middle in a situation that goes from bad to worse.

This short film is quite a ride and it offers fun and excitement. It introduces the audience to a story that they will want to follow and the experience that they will be provided with is one that will leave a positive and significant impression.