Welcome to Dreadville III: The Lottery (2009) Online

Filmmakers with no money normally try to do one of two things: either make a standalone short film or a full-length feature, which inevitably ends up bad because of a lack of money. Or you could do what Jason Patfield has done, which is create a series. Frankly, I think it is a great idea to create a series, and in this case, I'm pleased it is a fantasy/horror series.

I had not seen the first five episodes so I cruised on over to IMDb to see what I could find out to make sure I knew what the series was about. Apparently, "Dreadville" isn't a continuing series with the same characters and plot strands from one episode to another. It's more similar to "The Twilight Zone" or "Tales from the Darkside" where different genre stories are provided on an episodic basis. The only similarity between episodes is that each occurs in the weird town of Dreadville. This is an excellent idea because it allows new viewers to come into the series at any time without needing to catch up on the storyline. For a young filmmaker trying to draw an audience, this seems a wise choice to me.

The few reviews I was able to find on IMDb were decidedly mixed. While there were some complimentary comments concerning storyline attempts and special effects, there was also plenty of criticism leveled at the filmmakers over picture and sound quality, as well as acting. But if you are a new filmmaker with no money and no prospect of obtaining money, you can either waste your life dreaming about what could have been, or you can jump into the deep end headfirst and hone your craft while you work. And that is what Patfield is doing.

I don't have any real complaints about picture or sound quality—both were quite clear. Patfield and J.D. Scruggs (the episode director) do use some slow-motion and blurring effects, but I felt like that was more of an artistic choice to lend the film an air of mystery than a lack of knowledge or skill on their part. As far as acting goes, while it's obvious that the actors are all new to film, I thought the acting was really well-done. There were a couple of supporting characters that were pretty bad, but all the leads were quite good.

There are several references on IMDb about gore effects, and while there was some blood here, it certainly wasn't over the top. This particular episode was much like what you might see on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" where the story seems to be fairly pedestrian, but moves into the fantastic towards the end, with a huge twist to finish things up.

I've purposely avoided mentioning the plot because I can't divulge much without ruining the ending for new viewers. Basically, Josh (Steven Rohlf) is a down-on-his-luck young man who is three months late on his rent and owes the local mobsters some money as well. He has only until Friday before his landlord kicks him out, but who cares, because Friday is when the local gangster is coming back to kill him for nonpayment. Josh is obsessed with winning the lottery, fantasizing about how a big win could change his life. He runs into his friend, Rhett, who happens to be a famous plastic surgeon, but finds out his friend has been caught up in a malpractice scandal and is in trouble as well. The two hatch a scheme to disappear, but before they can, Josh decides to play the lottery one last time—and he wins $500,000! The plot is very straightforward up to this point, but then it takes a turn and things get hinky fast.

There is evidence that this is a "no-budget" film. For instance, the character of Rhett is played by a baby-faced Michael Schmid. While Schmid does an admirable job in the role, it is hard to see this young man playing a rich and famous plastic surgeon. But in no-budget film-making, you take what you can get. Some of the special effects, while interesting, were obviously filmed in a creative way in order to save money (for instance, the bullet flying through the air and the shot to the head). But when you realize these filmmakers did this entire 40-minute film with no money and in one 25-hour time period, it is impressive work.

Again, I haven't seen the earlier episodes, but when I compare the reviews for earlier episodes to what I've seen, it seems the filmmakers have made great strides in both learning and practicing their craft. I enjoyed "The Lottery". Decent story, great twist at the end, and relatively high production value for no money. It's amazing what you can do with nothing but desire and elbow grease! I look forward to viewing future episodes in this series. If you are interested in viewing any of this series of film shorts, please go to bublenutz.site50.net, myspace.com/bublenutzproduction, or facebook.com/bublenutz.

In recent years, this series of low-budget short films has popped up. Welcome to Dreadville is much like Sin City in that the tales all take place in the same crime-ridden town, not to mention some recurring characters.

The Lottery is about Josh (Steven Rohlf). Plunged deep in debt to his landlord and a gang, he plays the lottery in the hopes that his ship will come in. His doctor friend Rhett (Michael Schmid) is in trouble too. After botching an operation on the mayor's daughter, in which he literally cuts off her face, he's wanted by authorities legal and otherwise.

Although it seem a little slow getting started, by the end you'll feel that wasn't the case at all. It moves along well and culminates in a clever resolution. While some of the camera tricks and techniques fall short of seamlessness, some are pretty cool, and the gore during an operation of Rhett's has a quality to it along the lines of H.G. Lewis. The acting is adequate, as are the picture and sound quality. But the soundtrack – a mix of some reggae songs and some rock – strangely works.

Frank Miller meets O. Henry meets Dexter; that would be how I would describe the Welcome to Dreadville series. Any fans of those ought to give these stories a shot.