Ah, the joys of a sleepover party with your BFF! Waffle is a fun take on the sleepover/slumber party chick-flick film, it’s deliciously dark and a wonderfully amusing short film that leaves you aching for more. With Waffle director Carlyn Hudson and writers, Kerry Barker and Katie Marovitch examine how fractured we have become as a society and how we crave affection from others, the film looks at the lengths some people will go in order to gain friendship and the how a seemingly ordinary girls night can quickly escalate into a full-blown nightmare.
The film opens with what appears to be a very normal situation, two young women dressed in pyjamas, sat on the sofa drinking wine. The two women are Kerry (Barker) and the socially awkward, mysteriously orphaned heiress Katie (Marovitch). Already things appear off when Katie gets angry with Kerry for retelling a story incorrectly, and when a timer suddenly goes off it becomes clear that Katie and Kerry are not really friends. Katie is using an ‘Uber-like’ service where she has hired Kerry to be her friend.
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Their session has now ended, but Katie really wants her new ‘BFF’ to stay. It’s clear that Kerry is keen to get away, calling her boyfriend to come on by and pick her up. However, when Katie pays for another session, a broke Kerry soon finds herself trying to have fun with her ‘friend’ and eating waffles. Then a game of ‘Truth or Dare’ gets wildly out of hand before turning into a game of survival of the fittest.
Waffle” is wild, entertaining and a whole lot of fun- all of the things a good short film should be!“There’s definitely a lot here to enjoy, especially in terms of the off-beat and deadpan delivery by Marovitch who really is chilling…Barker is also great as the complete opposite to Marovitch’s Kerry. The two leading actresses seem to make a perfect writing and acting duo.
Waffle isn’t exactly a horror film in the traditional sense so to those who are worried about any gore or scares then this might be the perfect film for you. In fact, this is more of a comedy, which is one of the hardest genres to get right especially in the short film format. Luckily the team manage to pull this off and Waffle has several ‘laugh-out-loud’ moments that took me by complete surprise which was absolutely delightful as I needed cheering up!
There’s definitely a lot here to enjoy, especially in terms of the off-beat and deadpan delivery by Marovitch who really is chilling as this mentally unhinged young woman who is harbouring a dark secret. Barker is also great as the complete opposite to Marovitch’s Kerry. The two leading actresses seem to make a perfect writing and acting duo, with their witty back and forth exchanges being highly amusing to watch. The only other character we see in the film is Raphael (Raphael Chestang) who turns up at the end and delivers a nice little twist that you won’t see coming!
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In terms of tone, I found myself being reminded by Knives Out and Ready or Not (both films being full of dark humour and witty dialogue) and I found myself a little sad when Waffle was over. I would be eager to see this concept and the character of Kerry being fleshed out more and turned into a feature because Hudson, Marovitch and Barker have a natural talent for black comedy and have some very interesting ideas here that deserve to be explored in further depth.
Waffle may not be everyone’s cup of tea and I think the film could have been a little darker and sharper in places, but it’s a great little short and it’s clear that the director and the writers have an abundance of talent and deserve to go far!
