SUNDOWN TRAIL | Omeleto Sci-Fi

A young boy must trust a bandit to save his father in a post-apocalyptic world.
SUNDOWN TRAIL is used with permission from Luke Asa Guidici. Learn more at lukeasa.com.
A father and son walk through a peaceful green forest, talking and horsing around. But this is no ordinary excursion during an ordinary time. Ethan and his son Thomas are wearing gas masks because toxic mushrooms called sundowns have made the air deadly to breathe. And they're out on a dangerous mission to harvest these poisonous fungi to make more antidote -- or else suffer the deadly effects of sundown.
But just as they've found some sundowns, thieving bandits happen upon them, stealing the antidote they carry as a safeguard and exposing them to the poisonous air. With not enough antidote left for them both, it's up to the young boy to save them both.
Written and directed by Luke Asa Guidici, this suspenseful, engaging sci-fi short is set in a post-apocalyptic future where an invisible yet omnipresent danger lingers in the air. Yet at its core, it's a coming-of-age tale of a young boy who must overcome his timidity and fear in a potentially catastrophic situation, forcing him to grow up fast.
The storytelling is solid and sturdy, laying down the breadcrumbs of backstory, information and relationship in a way that draws in viewers to know and understand more. The film set up a world not unlike our own, shot with a coolly verdant yet ominous visual atmosphere that takes advantage of the forest setting. It would be almost idyllic, if not for the omnipresent breathing masks and guns.
Yet the father-son pair have an emotional relatability, and their rapport is warm, jocular and affectionate. Ethan takes his role as a father seriously, always trying to guide and teach Thomas, who is sometimes timid and scared. Actors Joshua Loren and Mason McNulty as father and son, respectively, have a strong connection, with a free flow of love and care between them. Thanks to the writing and their solid performances, we come to care about this small family in a short time.
Their relationship is the emotional core of the film, and it's what's at stake when marauders overtake them and put them in peril. Thomas now must overcome his anxieties, fears and shyness to take charge of the situation, outfoxing the thieves. But will be as ruthless as the bandits themselves? His dilemma isn't just life and death, but also the question of who he is as a person.
Taut, suspenseful and compelling, SUNDOWN TRAIL offers the pleasures of the sci-fi and thriller genre. And with its sense of atmospheric dread, it also draws perhaps unplanned parallels with our time of global pandemic. But the careful attention to character and relationship gives SUNDOWN TRAIL an emotional engagement and sincerity that makes it memorable and even heartwarming. We discover that even in a ruthless world of danger and threat, a father can still teach his child to be a good person -- to value mutual trust and care, think of others and believe in basic human goodness, even when it seems no one else does.

[@ismewhat1234]

Wow, 💯 % amazing video . Hope you all have a wonderful, safe weekend ✨️

[@ruffrider2626]

Great production. Well played by all. Thanks for putting this together and sharing it.

[@mizzteareacts9397]

Liked this one !! Wish it was a full movie .

[@FelipeKana1]

Hooked by the first dialogue.
Good acting and great worldbuilding. A nice surprise.

[@igorschmidlapp6987]

I think that my morel mushroom hunting days are over now... ;-P

[@LukeAsaGuidici]

hey, my name is Luke Guidici. I'm the writer and director of SUNDOWN TRAIL. thanks for checking it out, and please hit me up if you have any questions!

[@000aleph]

Luke, congratulations on making a film with only white males. This seemingly minor fact makes you a huge exception in the world of short films. I don't know if you're aware of this, but thank you.

[@jones_y]

@@000aleph is this sarcasm

[@000aleph]

@@jones_y No. You might have noticed that (straight) white males have a pretty bad rep and are not only underrepresented in short films but often shown as abusers. That's a bad situation. We need lots more films showing the positive side of men.

[@VideoFusco]

Why didn't the father go with the boy to retrieve the antidote? Staying there doubles the time needed to inject it.

[@LukeAsaGuidici]

@@VideoFusco if the father had run with his son, his heart would have beat faster and the toxin would have metabolized faster--leading to his death. I suppose he could have slowly walked towards home--but then I'd have had to spend more screen time on his story, and I wanted to keep it as short as possible.

[@osmia]

That was great!

[@mizzteareacts9397]

Just watching !

[@Oldisnew2me]

is there a full movie this like an hour and a half long or something?

[@kyler1585]

First ?😮

[@HelloThere-gs3ii]

Amazing you should write a book about it.

[@marylevin9262]

​@@HelloThere-gs3ii🤣🤣🤣