It’s hammer time with the great Eric Roberts in the cowabunga suspense short Hammer, directed by Orlando Cicilia III and written by Breanne Mattson. Right after two giggling figures run upstairs, Bill (Eric Roberts) gets home early from work. He makes himself something quick to eat and sees a note from his wife, Amy (Jennifer Marshall), asking Bill to hang up their wedding anniversary picture. Bill goes out to the garage and comes back with a hammer. As he is putting the picture up, he hears strange noises upstairs. Hammer in hand, he goes up to investigate. Things get bad. Then things get unimaginably worse.
“Hammer in hand, he goes up to investigate. Things get bad.”
Eric Roberts has a hammer! That’s all I needed to take this ride. As the undisputed world record holder of the most acting credits in a lifetime, Roberts is as perfect as you could ask for here. The emotional range he rides starts at routine and ends at the apocalypse, with each stop as genuine and sincere as can be. Cicilia III pulls a Hitchcockian handstand by using the tracking shot technique Hitchcock used in Rope. The director either shot it all in one uninterrupted shot or had some invisible editing at work to make it seem like it. The results outdo the master, as Mattson’s dark script achieves in a few minutes everything the best episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents did in many, many more minutes. This production is so tight you could bounce a quarter off it. Hammer completely nails it. The first opportunity you have, pound it down.
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