LEASHED
Director: Aubrey Reynolds
Writer: Aubrey Reynolds
Stars: Jennifer Durrans and Josh Moran
Reviewed by Char Hardin

3.5 Out of 5Leashed opens with a female jogger and then an earsplitting scream. A man gets out of his vehicle and throws tarp over her body and takes her away to his farm. Inside a stone building another young woman is unconscious on the ground. The farmer departs and the woman opened her eyes. She inspected the tarp bundle and discovered the dead jogger. She screamed and cried and frantically tried to free herself. She managed to pick a lock and tried to flee, but the farmer caught her. The screen fades and returns in semi darkness, in which the farmer is cleaning the young woman, now clad in bra and panties. She’s chained to a table and her mouth is gagged. Over on the other wall she listened as the farmer butchered and removed the head of the jogger.

Who is this farmer and why does he have this young woman on a leash in the stone building? Who is this young woman? How did she come to be at this place? Inside the home, the man freshly shaven entered a room with pictures on the wall with twinkling lights and picked up a picture frame, while outside in the stone building, the chained woman howled. Inside the man quietly cried.

Four weeks later the farmer sees a hitchhiker and stopped to pick him up.

I received this short film some time ago and found it while cleaning out my email. I am so glad I didn’t delete the link from the Director Aubrey Reynolds. Although the film lacked a full back story, I was able to grasp what was happening in the film. I am now more intrigued to know whether ‘Leashed’ will be developed into a full feature film? The short film feels like a middle piece of the story and I would really like to know the what, how and why this woman has been tethered and locked away. The filmmaker has my attention, I want to know more.

The scenery was beautiful wide shots of English countryside and the sounds of country life mixed with the screams of a desperate young woman mingled together nicely. For this film, action spoke more than actual words. Reynolds has captured the desperation and the solitude of the story very well. ‘Leashed’ was filmed on a budget of 12,000 pounds ($19,360.80) and shot on a Red-Cam. With a grander budget, and the continued use of the Red-Cam, this short film could be developed into a good feature film. This film would do well on the film festival circuit, if it hasn’t already. Film Festivals would be gifted with this dark beauty. Most definitely would recommend this to film festivals, reviewers and horror fans. Should it become a feature film, I would greatly wish to review it.

For more news, stories, visit Char at CharHardin.com