Some feature films run out of ideas and potential long before they run out of time. Some short films manage to deliver a perfectly formed story in their fleeting time on screen. Then there are shorts like DEAD AIR which really only serve to whet the appetite and leave you hungry for a full-length feature, expanding on the story’s familiar yet undoubted potential.

When Monster Kitten’s manager snags the all-female punk band a flight to their next gig aboard a cargo flight, the band just think it’s the latest in a long line of cheap tricks. But they’re sharing their flight with some very strange cargo indeed, and when there’s a mix-up with a tape player it’s not long before all hell breaks loose.

Combining elements of GREMLINS and, especially, CRITTERS, DEAD AIR is likely to be one of the shortest films you’ll ever watch because its seventeen-minute run time flies by in a flash. Despite its brevity, there’s more than soul and wit to the movie. It’s packed with interesting characters who deserve further exploration and time to develop on screen and at each turn you can feel there’s more mileage in both the premise and the personalities onboard the ill-fated flight. The cast, including Kate Davies-Speak, Stacy Hart and Johanna Stanton, make the most of the material and seem to be having a blast making this rough and ready little creature feature.

Produced by the crowdfunding efforts of director Geoff Harmer, you can see that the money ends up on screen with economical skill. One of the strengths of the short is its commitment to practical effects work and puppetry, giving the whole thing a welcome throwback feel to the sci-fi horrors of the early 1980s.

Funny, frantic and full of untapped potential, DEAD AIR is currently available to stream on Prime Video, so why not check it out and convince Amazon that there’s more than an appetite for a full-length version.

7/10