Movies
Saman Kesh’s ‘Hit TV’ Short is Incredible and You Should Watch It
Music video/commercial director Saman Kesh is building a strong name for himself. On top of working with such artists as Calvin Harris and Placebo, not to mention companies like Taco Bell and Visa, his short film Controller was picked up by Fox for a feature length film. But today marks a new day and a new venture for Kesh as he premiered his newest project, a short film by the name of Hit TV.
A love letter to 80’s action thrillers, the short follows Hunter Thomas, a man who is searching for his wife after she’s been kidnapped by a mysterious organization only known as Hit TV. The organization highjacks broadcast channels to air a seedy and haunting call-to-action where people are identified for murder and priced accordingly.
There are some elements of They Live and The Running Man as well as a bit of The Purge, but it’s all brought together in a unique and exciting way that is beautifully constructed and gleefully violent. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’m just going to say that I absolutely LOVED the “rasping breath” moment. When you watch the short below, you’ll see what I mean!
Now, here’s where it gets really cool when it comes to Hit TV. Talking with The Creators Project, Kesh outlines his vision for the short, saying, “The short is actually going to be a film at first to setup the universe. It will branch off into a tv show that focuses more on other characters instead of our hero.” A feature-length film is anticipated for 2017.
To get that raw 80’s quality, Kesh actually approached it like it would be viewed during that decade. “The show was rendered out and played back on set through a genuine 80s television set in order to capture that authentic quality,” he explains.
You can find more of Kesh’s work on his official website
HIT TV // The Prologue from Saman Kesh on Vimeo.
Movies
‘Abigail’ on Track for a Better Opening Weekend Than Universal’s Previous Two Vampire Attempts
In the wake of Leigh Whannell’s Invisible Man back in 2020, Universal has been struggling to achieve further box office success with their Universal Monsters brand. Even in the early days of the pandemic, Invisible Man scared up $144 million at the worldwide box office, while last year’s Universal Monsters: Dracula movies The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Renfield didn’t even approach that number when you COMBINE their individual box office hauls.
The horror-comedy Renfield came along first in April 2023, ending its run with just $26 million. The period piece Last Voyage of the Demeter ended its own run with a mere $21 million.
But Universal is trying again with their ballerina vampire movie Abigail this weekend, the latest bloodbath directed by the filmmakers known as Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream).
Unlike Demeter and Renfield, the early reviews for Abigail are incredibly strong, with our own Meagan Navarro calling the film “savagely inventive in terms of its vampiric gore,” ultimately “offering a thrill ride with sharp, pointy teeth.” Read her full review here.
That early buzz – coupled with some excellent trailers – should drive Abigail to moderate box office success, the film already scaring up $1 million in Thursday previews last night. Variety notes that Abigail is currently on track to enjoy a $12 million – $15 million opening weekend, which would smash Renfield ($8 million) and Demeter’s ($6 million) opening weekends.
Working to Abigail‘s advantage is the film’s reported $28 million production budget, making it a more affordable box office bet for Universal than the two aforementioned movies.
Stay tuned for more box office reporting in the coming days.
In Abigail, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
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