While short films can be a great way for a filmmaker to get their name out there, they usually have drawbacks as well. Mostly used as a calling card; shorts tend to not have any real character development, suffer from trying to throw out a complex idea in too little a timeframe and are worried more with style than actual substance. Austrian director Peter Koller's Skrypt is a prime example of this.

Things never rise about vague within Skrypt, and while sometimes a good mindf*ck movie can work, but when you're trying to mess with your viewer's head, it might take more than fifteen minutes.

All we do get out of the script (credited to the solo named, Futz) is that a bald-headed smalltime thug, who enjoys smoking a bit too much as he asks for a "light" multiple times and seems obsessed over his Zippo lighter, is trying to sell a package to a mysterious group of businessmen types who pick him up on a lonely stretch of road and take him off to a sparse room that is being watched by someone on a security camera (while the shots of the green-tinged and pixilated camera adds some mood, who's watching the events on it and why is never explored one bit).

Turns out said package is a manuscript and it's not just any old document as it seems no-one is willing to touch it because it's said to be cursed. Too bad then that our thug is forced to read it before getting paid any monies he may be owed.

From here Koller, who's kept things going at a brisk pace thanks to hyperactive camera work and has also managed to build okay mood by keeping things in heavy shadow, tries to wring thrills from having a few minutes too many of our crook character reading the document - now, I don't know about you, but even the most tense music and camera tricks can't make something so bland be suspenseful - before things escalate into incoherency as people seemingly go crazy before the movie ends almost right where is began... all the while making absolutely no sense. (Chris Hartley, 12/14/06)

Directed By: Peter Koller.
Written By: Futz.

Starring: Aleksandar Petrovic, Andreas Svolanek, Harald Madner.