J. LazarusThe Morning Ritual (2001)

A simple housewife presents her over-bearing husband with a precious gift.

This item is part of the collection: Open Source Movies

Director: J. Lazarus
Producer: Craig Brewer
Production Company: BR2 Productions
Audio/Visual: sound, B/W
Keywords: horror; creepy; domestic; experimental; thriller; tense; husband; wife; black; dark; gift; blood; box
Contact Information: Production: erinhagee@aol.com
Sound: www.hausofwheat.com

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

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Reviewer: geneveously - - September 1, 2007
Subject: Great Short!

This is a great short Gothic film. The sound effects are awesome. I have used this movie to introduce the Gothic genre of literature in my English classes, and the students are absolutely spellbound. They love it!!

Reviewer: Robbie Blake - - September 29, 2005
Subject: Excellent

Craig Brewer has managed to capture a feeling of dread and anticipation here extremely well, from the crisp and stark monochrome photography to the pacing of the editing to the actors and their gloomy faces. The sound editing is wonderful as, through that he captures that feeling and holds onto it and builds up the tension.

Superb!

Reviewer: moxey - - June 2, 2005
Subject: moxey

deleted one star from the rating only because this excellent piece is far too short.
every thing about it was done just right.

Reviewer: evfilms - - July 25, 2004
Subject: DOWN RIGHT EXCELLENT

I am shocked/amazed at this piece. This is no "prenentious film student mumbo jumbo". This is real deal psychological material. DV production (from my knowledge) very beautiful.

Reviewer: tambora - - May 29, 2004
Subject: Freakish

From a technical standpoint, this film is exemplary. The black and white cinematography is stark and gothic, especially in the ragged faces of the two silent leads. The composition and minimal camerawork is poetic and forboding. The editing is perfect, the sound design is fantastic, the music is appropriate, and the result is palpable fear.

This film can be downright scary. Even when absolutely nothing is happening, the skilled filmmakers track the movement of mundane objects with such grave importance that you become scared by black coffee long before another black liquid shows up.

Even if you don't figure out what's happening, the result is unnerving. The ending comes far too soon and may be the most jarring cut of the film. Every genre has its hackneyed hallmarks, and horror is no exception, but this film manages to work with them, and more importantly, through them, to produce a capable thriller that has a terrifying secret in store for you at the end.

You'll be speechless, too.

Credits

Written/Directed: J. Lazarus
Shot/Cut: Erin Hagee
Music: Shelby Bryant
Sound: Wheat
Props: Jeff Lehr
Producer: Erin Hagee
Executive Producer: Craig Brewer

Wife: Helen Bowman
Husband: Bruce Downing

Shot on location in Memphis, TN