REDRUBY Review

REDRUBY is a short film written, directed and produced by Jose Holder, who has worked on such movies as X-Men: Apocalypse, Red 2, Orphan and Warm Bodies in the art department. This is Holder's first foray into film as a director though, and REDRUBY has been travelling around and receiving acclaim at multiple film festivals across the continent, including Cinequest, Something Wicked Film Festival and the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival! It stars Amber Goldfarb (who was previously played Elektra in the fan-film Punisher: No Mercy, is the image, voice and motion capture of Aveline in the Assassin's Creed series and co-stars in the LARPS web series) as Ruby Grimm, a woman haunted by her family's legacy and her father's experimental drug, which is originally designed to cure night terrors, but has the power to do a lot more to the human consciousness. Her true destiny is realized after an encounter with a warrior spirit.

Goldfarb is captivating in the role of Ruby, a character that is complex and layered, as we are shown via the character's inner monologue. We feel a part of Ruby's journey and by the end of the film the audience feels like it is possibly her only ally. This is an interesting way to use “comic book” style inner monologue narrating, similar to that of the Sin City comics and movies.

Another interesting character is Ash the warrior spirit, played by Michelle Jiang, an accomplished film martial artist. There is a battle between Ash and Ruby that showcases brilliantly the two actresses' skills in film combat. The highlight of the film is its creepy, trippy cinematography and visual style, which stays consistent throughout.

REDRUBY is made to co-exist with a soon-to-be-released graphic novel, which will be also written and illustrated by Jose Holder, who is an accomplished storyboard and comic book artist (most recently having worked on Titan Comics' Assassin's Creed Uprising). And the short feels like that of a comic both in subject matter and imagery. Fans of comics such as Witchblade and Vampirella and shows like Penny Dreadful will likely enjoy REDRUBY and will want to see the next chapter, which is already in the works!