Rating: ★★★★ 1/2

Nick Ferwerda’s 11 minute horror comedy, Family Game Night, follows the story of your everyday middle-class family as they sit down for some quality family time. You have mum, dad and a son and daughter. It starts out very normal, but soon takes a hilariously dark turn. It sells itself as a horror-comedy, and did genuinely make me laugh out loud in places. I often find that horror and comedy are difficult genres to mix, but when you do it well, it seriously pays off. I commend Ferwerda and his cast and crew for making it work!

I thoroughly enjoyed this little film from the get go. The quality of the acting is cheesy in places, but I figured that was intentional as a way of parodying the average, happy North American family. The dad especially made me laugh with his over the top mannerisms and speech patterns, and immediately I knew he shouldn’t be trusted! Whilst predictable, I did find myself sitting there wondering just what they were going to do with the homeless man their daughter brought home to “join their game”, which kept it interesting for me.  I won’t spoil it for you, but it was fun to watch the antics that ensued once they had their guest exactly where they wanted him…

The dynamics between characters within the family are also brilliant, I thought everyone involved brought their characters to life perfectly, with the right amount of humour and stereotyping mixed in. I would like to see more from the cast members to see what other roles they could capture. For an independent film, the sound and visual quality was spot on, and it’s clear so much work went into making this project a reality.

Thank you to Nick Ferwerda for getting in touch and sending this across, it’s always lovely hearing from independent filmmakers. Family Game Night is currently doing the festival route, and I wish everyone the best of luck!

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