What's that for? Protection. In case they come back What was it for? Bears I think. like giant dogs. Those are the ones that barked, right? Never seen a bear. No. They would
have died out before the dogs did. I hope Dad comes back soon. He will. It's been a long time. How do you know
we'll last like this until he gets back? I just do. Just try and get some sleep. Okay. Then said Jesus father forgive them for they
know not what they do and they parted his raiment and cast lots. (groans) Shhhhh. W
hat is it? I don't know. Stay here. [barely audible] If you can hear me. I’m just… I don’t want to give up. I’m just tired. [inaudible whimpering] It's okay! It's okay. Hungry? Not going to cook it first. Are your parents home? Dad left 10 days ago to get
help after the attack started. Where are you from? Bethel.
Out near the crater. A couple of days ago I picked up a
radio transmission. You got a radio? It broke, but last I heard. Survivors
are gathering at Fort Charles. that's where I'm headed
.
You guys should come. You can sleep here tonight. Can't believe you've been eating
these raw this whole time.Try that. Wow. Yeah, tastes pretty good, doesn’t it? Were you praying earlier? Yeah, stupid I know. Got you this far. I got me this far. My mom, she hid me in the barn right before they came Sometimes at night I can still hear her screaming. Your Dad's not coming back. Mark. We’re not supposed to let anyone in, remember? It’s just one night. What if they followed her? She's alone. It do
esn't matter. Remember what dad said? Say it. This is our home. We know the land better than them. Exactly. Nothing to worry about. (stomach gurgling) It’s gonna be okay. Just don’t move. Figured I’d get cleaned up before I leave. My brother's in there. There's a tub outside you can
use. I can wait. He takes forever. Okay, outside's fine. If anyone is listening, this is Gabriel Lewis. I saw one of them last night in the
woods. Look like one of us first, but then it got closer. I saw its skin. It
was peeling off. And its eyes… We thought we killed them off years ago, but we were wrong. They’ve been hiding. They've been hiding out this whole time. We shouldn't have come here. No… [gurgling] Going somewhere? I was just going for a walk. You look nice. Hey, your dad was a farmer, right? Yeah. Mine too. I remember when we first got
out here, everything was so nice back on our old farm. We used
to grow corn in the wintertime. I remember her hands used to get so
numb from digging it out of th
e ground. Did you ever have to do that? You don't. No. You don’t dig corn with your hands. You use a shovel. Yeah, that's right. I forgot I’m leaving, Mark. Hey. Take care of yourself. Thanks. Wait...please...(clicking noises) You’re one of them. Please! [clicking noises] [unearthly scream] (screams) This is Captain Ingalls at Fort Charles. The native species reemerged 11 days ago adopting our language and appearance as camouflage. Species is extremely hostile. Our entire population of 973 colon
ists has been lost. [whimpering] Help… please! [whimpering] Oh God… oh God… The Homestead Program has failed. Final mission duration August 3rd, 1972 to June 5th, 2031. Out
Comments
Another smash!! I loved everything about this movie! Acting, story, suspense, production, storytelling, cinematography, and the directing was some of the best I’ve seen in a long, long, long, time!! I always forget that when you see one thing in the beginning of a movie, 9 times out of 10, your going to see it in the end. That’s how good this movie was. I love the build up to each seen, not knowing what direction it was going to go in. Here we are thinking she was the alien and in fact it was them trying to guard their home! Brilliant!! Great job on this one! Hollywood needs you really bad!!!👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿
Turns out there was a lot more to the story than I initially thought... Very well executed. First playing into the tropes and stereotypes of the genre, and then subverting them.
This is the type of writing that I love to see especially with the ending. With both of them screwing up how to harvest corn wasn't sure who was the alien the we saw the little brother turn his face. Great ending with the planets in the background.
Fantastic filming, constantly moving the story. In a short period of time, it took a common plot and applied multiple twists, dropped hints but craftily applied a distraction from them, and tied the last scene to the first scene.
One of the best short films I've seen in some time. Well Done!
There are moments where the older boy looks like a young Matt Damon. Great job on this film, everything was fantastic!
Fantastic job Mr Hinkel! (and thanks to Dust too). This was special. I loved the way things got turned around and I didn't see it coming.
Please bring back Sunday Night DUST! It's been a horrible year without Sunday Night DUST.
"The [native] species is extremely hostile"... This is easily the best line in the film, and it has all the appropriate layers of irony to make for excellent science fiction. The human settlers of the "Homestead" project have all but wiped the natives off their own planet going back to 1972, as human settlers have historically done pretty much everywhere. Only in this case the usurped native species aren't the pushovers the settlers originally think for 1) being able to adapt far better than the humans expect them to and 2) exacting the same types of vengeance we would have unleashed had it been our planet being taken over. Her begging for mercy as she knows he is about to walk in and find his children massacred is probably fitting as many of these species likely begged for mercy and didn't get any when the humans settled and tried to obliterate them. The audience of human beings likely feels torn here, at least a bit in this conclusion; our desire for self preservation wants her to survive as a fellow human being, but we also know she is about to get what she deserves for the pain she has unleashed on this family. Perfect ending, really. Great stuff!
That the aliens didn't know we cook our food was a major red flag.
I did not see that coming!! Swayed by the suspense, story, the somehow awkwardness chemistry between characters, and then BOOM!! Story left me a in awe moment! This is a masterpiece, congratulations!
That corn conversation was genius.
I want to see a Netflix series now. Great concept, acting, tension. Loved it!
That's how you make a good film with the budget of bag of potatoes. Well done.
This guy is a exacellent young actor. So much potential. They all have.
An amazingly well done short by John Hinkel. Very imaginative plot with fine acting. I would like to see this be picked up and extended into a full length film. If I had the funding in hand I would pursue this project myself.
What a quality film! Loved the scenery, the editing and the acting. Yes, the twist "got" me, and I'm a pretty jaded viewer! Bravo!
Wow. I ran into this accidentally. This is one of those hidden gems. Well done
This was so sad. Excellent short. One of the best.
Excellent. Hey, Dust, keep up the good work of finding so many gems. It's clear you all work hard to find the best sci-fi short stories being produced out there.