Snake Bite (2016) Poster

(2016)

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Good use of child actors, and solid build to the end
bob the moo20 December 2016
Four young boys in the woods when one of them gets bitten by a snake – and a very good chance the poison could kill within 10 minutes. As the time passes the boys try to work out what to do.

At times the use of child actors in this film means that some elements are not wholly convincing or perfectly delivered, but mostly the film works well thanks to them and how it builds the tension and escalates the situation. The interplay between the various characters works well, and it is their dialogue that makes the film tense as things start to get more drastic as time fades. The film maybe lays on the ticking clock thing a bit much but it still works and it is nice that it matches the film's time in real life. What delivers most is the rather dark heart that it has to it – shown by the treatment of some of the characters but of course most tellingly by the conclusion of the film itself, which does ensure that it sticks in the mind and rather wipes clean the memory of any clunky moments on the way
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4/10
It's not too bad, but nothing really stands out
Horst_In_Translation13 February 2018
Warning: Spoilers
"Snake Bite" is an American 10-minute live action short film from 2016 directed and co-written by Tim Hyten and the awards attention it received makes it a contender for the filmmaker's most known work by now. Fitting in with the recent hype around Stranger Things, this one here includes a cast consisting entirely of teenagers and we get to see what happens when one of them was bitten by a seemingly poisonous snake. The leg must off no? Violence sure is a factor at the end, but you can never be sure if it will be. The twist at the end also makes it pretty interesting to be honest, but before that it is just really mediocre. The kids are doing an okay job and "okay" is the perfect word to describe everything else here too, but today with the greatness of (short) films we got in quantity and quality, "okay" won't make the cut anymore. It's never as thrilling as it could have been, never sufficiently atmospheric, never a character study good enough and the only thing suspenseful for me will be to see in the next years, maybe decades, which of the young actors will have a big breakthrough if any. All in all, I do not agree with the awards attention and give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
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the end
Kirpianuscus12 January 2017
the final scenes. this remains after its end. and this is the axis of controversies. and the basic virtue of this admirable short film. because "Snake Bite" has two great good points : the performances of the boys and the dialogue. each useful for define the tension and the manner to react to a critical moment. sure, it is not all plausible. but this remains only a detail. because it is a story about few friends and about a challenge who provokes them. and the reactions are far to be rational. this does it a good film. the precise style to give a coherent story. and a terrible end. so, see it. like one of boys part of the terrible situation.
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