Mega Blood Moon: The Freelancer deserves credit for making the ordinary feel unnerving. Whether it’s flickering lights or a familiar office space, the film turns day-to-day settings into the stuff of nightmares. The scrapy indie film certainly stretches its small budget to generate some decent scares. That said, viewers may have a hard time getting through the first few minutes because of a rather shocking and unnecessary scene.
There’s no doubt the opening will polarize and turn off a lot of viewers. In short, it features the brutal murder of a dog. This really didn’t need to be in the film, and in fact it’s nothing more than pure shock value. It doesn’t serve the rest of the experimental narrative in any way, and it certainly doesn’t enhance the film more broadly. It seems like a cheap ploy to grab the viewer’s attention, but more likely, it’ll cause some folks to tune out.
Beyond that gratuitous opening, the film occurs during a blood moon. An unnamed freelancer, played by director and co-writer Ben Floss, shows up to the office. It’s supposed to be his last day. However, after he clocks in, he realizes no one came to work. He’s baffled and confused and even wonders at one point if it’s a holiday he forgot about. The reason for this is never really explained, and this film doesn’t provide answers about much of anything. Instead, it focuses on the employee struggling to maintain his sanity. He even constantly battles a naked version of himself. Let it be noted that Floss flashes his naked butt quite a lot. Talk about brave!
Meanwhile, every little noise unnerves the freelancer, be it a creaky door or the clank of pipes. As already stated, this film transforms the familiar into the uncanny and does it well. Even the office setting looks like every other office setting and will feel relatable to most viewers. Yet, there’s something that feels dangerous about it. The close-ups of the angry blood moon reinforce that idea. This film doesn’t go for wild special effects and instead utilizes its setting to make the most out of its small budget.
For a majority of the runtime, Floss is the only character on screen, so he has a heck of a lot of work to do to carry this movie. Luckily, he succeeds and does a good job playing an unnamed character who is apparently losing his mind. He really unravels and sells the performance. It couldn’t have been easy fighting another version of himself on screen, either.
Mega Blood Moon: The Freelancer has an unnecessary opening that features animal cruelty for no good reason. Likely, some viewers will tune out within the first five minutes. However, after that, there is an interesting film here that turns an ordinary office setting into a dangerous and unusual place. This certainly isn’t a typical man-goes-insane type of movie. Instead of providing any answers or a logical narrative, it’s more concerned with mood and setting more than anything else. This movie is certainly a vibe.
