Movie Review: Friend of the World (2021)

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Friend of the World is an indie horror film written and directed by Brian Patrick Butler. The film takes place in a bunker during a seemingly post-apocalyptic event that leaves two people to figure out this hellish nightmare together. It stars Alexandra Slade as Diane, who wakes up in a room full of dead people, not knowing what is happening. She meets up with General Gore, played by Nick Young who starts to fill her in on what his interpretation is of the current situation, and she has to figure out on her own who to trust.

What we liked:

  • Friend of the World having been filmed in black and white gives it a very dark and bleak atmosphere. That paired with the eerie sound and odd characters made it feel very much like a post-apocalypse bunker experience.
  • The acting was great. Slade and Young did a great job in their dialogue together, which can be hard to accomplish in an indie film; especially one in which the entire film depends on it.
  • This film has a lot of really good cinematography. We were impressed with some of the shots chosen.

What we thought could have been better:

  • There were some “supporting” characters that we thought could have been better put to use.
  • One scene, in particular, had some silliness (sound) from someone else in the bunker that didn’t really seem to fit. We thought the scene would have been better off without it.
  • We would have liked for this to be longer. It clocks in at 50 minutes, but there was definitely potential for 90, depending on where the story went.

Overall, Friend of the World is a great example of how to use a small budget to your advantage. Butler did a great job painting a bleak picture of the apocalypse while leaving a lot of questions on the table. Hopefully, we see more from him, and we would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of noir-style horror films.

Friend of the World is available to stream on VOD everywhere and is being distributed by Troma Entertainment as of April 1, 2022. It is also available to stream on their site here:

https://watch.troma.com/sci-fi-1/videos/friend-of-the-world

Check out the trailer here: