Short Film Review: Mainline (2017)

MAINLINE is a horror short film written and directed by Eric Kleifeld. It clocks in under 11 minutes, but there is a lot of quality packed into that time. The synopsis is that a reclusive bioengineer has been testing a time-traveling serum, and as with most science, it’s trial and error. It wouldn’t be a horror film without error, and here we are.

There have been a few films in sci-fi horror that touch on time travel. And this film does a fantastic job of bringing a fresh concept into that space and executing it well. It tells the story of a man named Jake who is on the brink of both a scientific and a psychotic breakthrough at the same time. In his trials, he has been creating a paradox by causing a duplicate of himself in each trial. The quality of the film is also outstanding. The acting, sound, cinematography, lighting, set design, and most of the special effects were fantastic.

Overall, MAINLINE feels more like a professional production than an indie one in most scenes. And we think this would be a fantastic story to see more of, either in installments, or a feature, or both. It ranks up there with some of the best in quality we have seen from a short and has a really cool plot that would be awesome to see elaborated on.

MAINLINE will screen as part of the Short Trip to Hell film block at the Cinepocalypse Film Festival in Chicago on Thursday, June 28th at 1:45 pm CT at the Music Box Theater on 3733 Southport Ave, 60613

You can also find out more here on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mainlinefilm/ and here on twitter https://twitter.com/mainlinefilm/ so give them a follow and definitely see it in Chicago if you are in the area!