Filmmaker Spotlight: “What It Takes” by DJ Remark
Hey readers! This month’s spotlight short is an award-winning horror short from a great filmmaker who’s been featured in this space before.
“What It Takes” is a horror short film directed by DJ Remark. It was written by Jason Orr and stars Vincent Sarowatz, Angelia Green, and Samantha Sather. Filmed in Streetsboro, Ohio, the short features Sarowatz as a coffee shop manager who’s interviewing for a position that would grant him immortality. What follows from that premise is a a deep character study laced with tension and unexpected moments of ghastliness.
Thematically, “What It Takes” is possibly the strongest short featured in this series thus far. Sarowatz’s performance brilliantly expresses the narcissistic tendencies of humanity. His statements and the choices that he makes throughout the short are not unlike those of a megalomaniac CEO of a large company who are willing to destroy — and step over the corpses of — those who get in their way without any remorse while outwardly presenting themselves as kind-hearted souls whose only true desire to “make the world a better place.”
Orr’s screenplay, primarily through the character portrayed by Ms. Green, lifts the curtain of this fallacy and thoroughly denounces the self-absorption of the powers that be as well as the consequences their actions bring upon both their souls and society as a whole. With Remark’s guidance, the short’s trio of thespians chillingly articulate this message with a particularly first-rate depiction of descent into dehumanization by Sarowatz. Compliments must also be given to Jon “Paddy” Cibella for the lighting work and Alaina Carr and Elizabeth DeFelice for the makeup.
With a slow-burning intensity that builds to a shocking and harrowing conclusion, “What It Takes” is exposé about people who are obsessed with obtaining great power and the price they must be willing to pay to get it. Anyway, I’ll be back next month with another spotlight. But for now…
