Shortcut Movie Storyline. A boy in a yellow jacket appears injured as he runs for his life through the woods before falling to his knees and breaking down in despair. Somewhere in Britain, five teens – Nolan (Jack Kane), Bess (Sophie Jane Oliver), Reggie (Zak Sutcliffe), Queenie (Molly Dew) and Karl (Zander Emlano) – are going on a field trip with their bus driver Joseph (Terence Anderson).
Karl teases Queenie, while it appears that Nolan likes Bess, and Reggie just sits in the back scowling. Joseph gives the teens a riddle to solve to pass the time, involving seven letters and being a much-needed virtue. On the road, a fallen tree blocks their path, so Joseph decides to take an different route.
Further up, Joseph has to exits the bus to move a dead deer from the road. When he returns, he is held at gunpoint by escaped convict Pedro Minghella (David Keyes), whom Karl recognizes from the news. Pedro hijacks the bus and demands everyone follow his orders. He also forces them to throw their phones out of the bus so that there’s no way that they can call for help.
Joseph drives the bus later into the evening until they enter a tunnel where the bus inexplicably breaks down. Pedro forces Joseph to attempt to fix it by holding Queenie hostage. The lights in the tunnel suddenly go out, leaving everything in pitch black darkness, save for the bus headlights illuminating an odd shape in the road which Pedro forces Joseph to inspect.
Once he gets close enough, the thing reveals itself to be a monstrous creature that rises and kills Joseph, to the horror of the teens. To make matters worse, he had the keys on him. Pedro chooses Karl to go and retrieve them but Nolan insists he go. Bess suddenly exits the bus to go out and retrieve the keys.
She succeeds and makes it back to the bus safely where Pedro forces Reggie to try and start the bus with a gun to his head but it will not budge and after a struggle Pedro goes outside to try and kill the beast, only for it to sneak up on him and rip his head off. The monster (which looks like a giant bug with sharp teeth and long hair) rips out the wiring on the bus and hops on board, but the teens manage to escape.
Shortcut (2020)
Directed by: Alessio Liguori
Starring: Jack Kane, Zanda Emlano, Zak Sutcliffe, Sophie Jane Oliver, Molly Dew, David Keyes, Terence Anderson, Andrei Claude, Mino Caprio, Teo Achille Caprio, Emma Giua, Matteo De Gregori
Screenplay by: Daniele Cosci
Production Design by: Miriam Judith Reichel
Cinematography by: Luca Santagostino
Film Editing by: Jacopo Reale
Costume Design by: Jessica Materno
Art Direction by: Maurizio Carraro, Maria Chiara Totti
Music by: Benjamin Kwasi Burrell
MPAA Rating: R for language throughout and some bloody images.
Distributed by: Minerva Pictures International, Gravitas Ventures
Release Date: August 19, 2020 (Giffoni Film Festival, December 22, 2020 (United States)
Views: 21
