Deadly Damsel [Short Film Review]

There are so many talented individuals in the indie scene that I have my eye on and two of them just so happen to be involved in this little title, Deadly Damsel. First is writer/director Ryan McCurdy who first caught my eye with his excellent short Misread, a sort of thriller which keeps you on the edge-of-your-seat, it truly gave us an insight into what McCurdy was capable of.

And secondly, there is Kevin Roach. Boy, can this dude act or what!? He has some serious talent and was just super creepy in Nathan Thomas Milliner’s short, The Confession of Fred Krueger. If you haven’t seen it, keep your eye out for it, it’s truly remarkable. And speaking of remarkable, that pretty much sums up Kevin Roach, a guy who battled anxiety to give the life-changing donation of one of his kidneys to a relative, and instantly became a hero.

And now, here we have the short film, Deadly Damsel from Ryan McCurdy which is said to be a cross between a horror movie and a superhero movie which stars Kevin Roach as the hostage for once. The short follows a sort of vigilante by the name of Deadly Damsel played by Kiley Eberhard, as she hopes to save the cities councilman (Roach) from the cities two worst super-villains; Comedy (Gavin Eddings) and Tragedy (Wendy Brown) before it’s too late.

But will she succeed or most important, does she want to?

The short is shot very well and almost has a sort-of Grindhouse feel about it, without it actually being Grindhouse, but either way it looks very good. Kiley does a great job as the kick-ass vigilante, however some of the action scenes come across a little cheesy, much like the Batman series from 1966, and just felt a little out-of-place. However, if it’s intentional, then bravo, you hit the mark.

The villains, Comedy and Tragedy were great, although for super-villains, I was hoping for much more horror and dread on their part. But still, they added some great entertainment that I’d love to see expanded upon.

While it does sound negative for some parts, this is just my opinion. On the whole though, I was entertained and it was a fun little superhero film, I just wished it was more on the violent side.

However, if you love superhero heroes and vigilante heroes, Deadly Damsel certainly hits the mark for the most part and in doing so, they have created a universe that I would like to see expanded upon, just up the ante on the violence.