The Rusted

This is the kind of story not suited for a short film of this length. With a full 40 minutes this could be great, but with half that time and so many different tones the plot gets lost.

There isn't a clear story, and for that the short suffers. We get a little horror, some drama, and a touch of thriller all in the span of 20 minutes and it all has promise and potential, but it doesn't lead anywhere.

But, on the plus side, the acting is quite good. Josh Hutcherson is one of the more notable actors of his age and generation and he actually shows his chops here pretty well. He brings a decent sense of emotion and weight to the scenes and pulls it off convincingly. Jena Malone is a notable character actress these days and she has a close relationship with Hutcherson off camera, which comes off well in the film. The two play off one another pretty good and I wouldn't mind seeing this brother-sister dynamic and the family drama play out a lot more.

The camera work is good as well, and on a technical level, everything works. It's just too short or there are just too many things being attempted. I feel if they had stuck with the family drama card, this would have been much better. For that it is though, it shows a lot of promise.