More so than ever before, we live in a world of advertisements. Honestly this is nothing new, this is something that’s been happening for as long as products have been available for sale. And just as long as there have been advertisements there have been grandiose statements about what these products can do for you. No, these things are nothing new, it’s just that the delivery mechanisms and the volume of them have changed.
While it’s definitely subject to interpretation, there’s no question that the deluge and effect of advertising on people is part of the genesis behind the short horror film, “Ad/Break.” Across 17 minutes, writer/director Walter Banasiak transitions the world of advertising, and the viewer themselves, from comedic satirical commentary to various horror genres. It’s a densely packed quarter of an hour that does not waste any time in relaying it’s pointed critique amidst a few good scares and several good laughs.
Banasiak is very much attuned to the world of television and film; he has worked extensively for the YouTube channel, Channel Awesome, which has made pop culture it’s bread and butter. Its most notable figure, The Nostalgia Critic, effectively pioneered reflecting on the shows and films of the past in an online video format. And ironically or coincidentally enough, one of the channel’s more successful recurring episodes have been about television ads that became embedded into the minds of the Gen X and millennial demographics. Considering that advertisements are a massive means of support for YouTube channels, Banasiak knows the dichotomy of their necessary evils.
There’s a scene in Ray Bradbury‘s Fahrenheit 451 where its protagonist looks at a billboard along the side of the road and realizes just how large the roadside advertisement is. Its staggering size is attributed to the fact that because cars travel so much faster in the future, the advertisement has to be bigger in its physical presence so that people have more time to see it. Even in our fictional literature, the evolution of advertising has been made clear.
Some of that evolution is featured in “Ad/Break.” A large part of the short consists of takes on a variety of advertisements that range from 1950s cigarette ads, to ’90s CD compilations, to matchmaking website ads of the mid 2000s. Some of them are done to such an intense degree of emulation, that if you hated those ads when they first aired, these will quickly revitalize some deep feelings of contempt you may not have realized you still had.
That’s quite the compliment all around. Putting a twisted spin on these terrifyingly accurate parodies speaks volumes about Banasiak’s writing and direction as well as what he’s able to accomplish on camera with his actors and the production design. When something is intended to look intentionally cheap, you can tell that work was put in to make it look that way; it wasn’t just a slapped together effort. The more elaborate effects, whether they be makeup, puppeteering, or costume design, all look fantastic for a production of this smaller scope. Special mention has to be given to the music. If you remember the eHarmony ads that used to run constantly, you may remember the cheerful use of Natalie Cole‘s “This Will Be.” That’s directly parodied here but with an original song that is one of our first indications that something is deeply wrong in this world.
While it first comes across as quirky, the wrongness of these ads starts to become more and more caustic and malevolent. We’re not the only ones exposed to this either, the actress who appears in most of these ads, played by Tamara Chambers, is thrust into the depth of the madness herself. The last third of the picture, which is not to be spoiled here, takes a delightfully scary turn that could be compared to the works of David Lynch, or more recently, Jane Schoenbrun‘s film “I Saw the TV Glow.”
It’s during this act where Banasiak makes the wise decision to remove virtually all dialogue and fall back on the rule of “show, don’t tell.” Chambers does not speak outside of a few screams. She communicates fear and confusion through physical acting and facial expression. There’s no muttering to herself, no questioning out loud what’s going on, no expository exclamations to try to clue the viewer into what’s happening. “Ad/Break” is all the better because of this. It’s painfully easy to find independent horror films that don’t trust the viewer’s attention span and insert needless lines that no one would ever say on their own, spoken only for the sake of an audience being present.
This comes at the cost, or the benefit depending on the viewer, of things being left open for interpretation. We are not given answers as to what or why all of this is happening, or if it’s even happening at all. Are the events really transpiring, or is it purely symbolic? Are we watching a commercial actress being subjected to something supernaturally beyond our understanding, or is everything just happening in the confines of her mind? It’s an ad break for sure, but is it a break in reality, or break in one’s psyche?
If “Ad/Break” has one fault, it’s that it’s trying to do a lot in a short period of time. It has a lot to say and would benefit from having a bit more time to say it. The aforementioned last third of the picture could have used another 5 to 10 minutes to explore that world that came to be. And that’s not to say that should have come at the expense of the setup, because the proceeding scenes do not drag unnecessarily or take up too much time. The pacing is brisk without being rushed, and the ending is satisfactory, we just don’t spend enough time in the realm that we end up in. At the very least, this is the opposite problem that a lot of other stories have, where there’s not enough to fill the runtime, and the audience has to sit through poor pacing or filler to make it feel like a complete experience.
Part of me would love to go into more detail about some of the effects and sequences Banasiak uses to make this as clever and entertaining as it is, but it’s the kind of project that is better when you don’t fully know what to expect. This is something you watch, digest, watch again, and then ask others what they thought of it. It’s unpretentious in its mysteries and it doesn’t make efforts to pretend to be something like an alternate reality game. The fact that the end of the short has a credits roll is confirmation that you’ve just watched a film; now go back and make your interpretations about what it’s trying to say.
For me, I couldn’t help but reflect upon advertising in my own life. I was recently watching a program on a free streaming platform that has ads embedded in it. While the ads weren’t too intrusive, they still popped up at fairly regular intervals, much to my annoyance. Then, when I paused the show to get up, there was yet another ad that popped up on the screen just to try and fit more product placement into my day. For the life of me, I cannot tell you or remember what any of those advertisements were for. All of those ads, and not one of them has stuck in my mind. I’m betting I’m not alone on that either. We are exposed to so many advertisements that perhaps we’re starting to grow immune to them. If that is what’s happening, God only knows what companies will do to make us take notice of ads again. Perhaps we’re all heading for a break that we won’t be returning to our regularly scheduled programming from. The darkest irony in my case is that I seem to willingly accept this. That show I was watching on an ad supported streaming platform; I have the entire series of that program on DVD. It’s located not 2 feet away from my television, my DVD player works absolutely fine, but dealing with ads seemed easier than inserting a disc.
“Ad/Break” is available to watch on Channel Awesome.
