Rebrand
Directed & Written by Edoardo Ranaboldo
Starring Eleanor Lougee-Heimer, Xavier Clyde, Adam Alpert, Charlie McElveen, Georg Jansen, & Haulston Mann.

Horror

★★★★1/2 (out of ★★★★★)

DISCLAIMER:
The following short essay contains
SOME SPOILERS.
Turn back, lest ye be spoilt.

Edoardo Ranaboldo’s Rebrand centres on a group of young people headed to film what they say is a “final adventure,” totally unaware they’re being followed by a group of masked men who are equally prepared to film but with sinister intent. Chaos erupts quickly once the group arrive in an isolated location—the perfect place for the masked men to shoot what they have planned.

Though there’s a wholly different setup and story, Rebrand is a spiritual cousin of Ti West’s You’re Next. What’s terrifying about Ranaboldo’s film is that while there’s an explanation in West’s film for why what happens actually happens, this one doesn’t offer explanations. One line in particular makes the short feel so impactful, as a character, after tons of violence, asks “Did you get it?” with excitement. The plot begins with the young folks excited to shoot footage, and ends on a dark mirror of that under horrific circumstances. Ranaboldo turns what’s already a whole lot of indiscriminate murder into something that lingers much longer than most horror films featuring the same sort/volume of deaths. Rebrand hits hard and fast, leaving little time to regain composure between one brutal murder after another.