From Omeleto.
Two teenagers break into an arcade.
SKATEAWAY2K is used with permission from Gunner Willis. Learn more at https://instagram.com/just_gubnet.
It’s New Year’s Eve before Y2K and teenagers Joe and Faith decide to break into an arcade to celebrate the new millennium. Despite the talk of "the rapture" and the atmosphere of general paranoia in the world around them, they’re more excited to play video games, roller skate and have the place to themselves.
But just as something more might happen between them, they are happened upon by another pair of friends, who are taking refuge from something strange happening outside. But when it catches up to them, the teens find themselves amid a true-to-God otherworldly threat and must fight their way out.
Directed and written by Gunner Willis, this horror short is an effectively adrenaline-filled, fast-paced zinger of tension and suspense. It quickly sets up characters and their dramatic situation, letting them have a few moments of lighthearted, teenage fun before it drops the hammer of Y2K-fueled doom and gloom upon them.
The writing is lean and practical, conversant in the laidback patois of teenagers to quickly establish Joe and Faith as skeptical and slightly rebellious, despite their religious upbringing. It fills in just a sketch of their characters and relationship before interrupting them at a key moment, which launches the film quickly into a more propulsive register. Kinetic camerawork and fast-paced editing effectively generate suspense and momentum, finding the rhythm between moments of eerie chill and pulse-pounding fear and deftly taking advantage of the unique sounds and visuals that a late 90s arcade brings to the table.
Actors Shannon Hutchinson and Chase Bridges offer heightened, nervy performances, evoking just enough rebelliousness to break into an arcade — and then enough fright and fear when that arcade turns into a trap they have to escape. As they get swept into the narrative’s high-octane climax, they keep the audience grounded in the life-or-death stakes. They almost just make it out — only to find themselves facing a larger, stranger nemesis.
SKATEAWAY2K is tremendous fun, aiming to take audiences on a wild run of end-of-the-world hijinks and terror. At the very end, it teases a bigger event that opens up the narrative and potential for world-building, playing much like a terrific opening sequence to a larger story. As it stands, it’s a compact, confidently executed showpiece of solid, dynamic craftsmanship that ultimately creates what fans of the genre love: a visceral journey of fear and dread, enlivened by a generous dose of Y2K nostalgia and stylish callbacks to the sci-fi of that era.
