bob the moo A familiar scene to horror viewers – a victim wakes up chained to a bed in a dark place, surrounded by plastic sheeting. Her captor comes in and delivers a monologue to her while toying with the knives which lay close by. It is nothing particularly new as a thing however in the case of Abe the lead character is a robot rather than a human. In the monologue we hear of his programming to love and his desire to achieve love back but at the same time he is frustrated because maybe he is not worthy of it, maybe he has no soul as others do but at the end of the day he is yet to find consistent love and the fault not being with him must be with others.Sometimes with short films you get the feeling that the maker is only interested in his piece in so far as it serves him or her; so rather than the film being made because the medium of short film is the perfect way to tell the story, it is done as a calling-card or pitch to try to get a bigger project off the ground. In theory I understand this and don't mind watching these but generally it must be said that the films that take this approach are generally not as good as those that set out to deliver from the get-go. This unfortunately is the case with Abe because it works better as a suggestion than as a whole; in fact if the structure feels like anything it feels like a pilot for a series because we get the introduction, we get interest in the character and we get the continuation as the conclusion. On this level it works and I enjoyed the genre style of the delivery and the writing, but only when viewed as a pilot.Watching it as a standalone you wonder why it didn't try to do more and why all aspects of it seem to be pointing to something else. Take away the goal and the animation and you have a serial killer scene the type of which Dexter has done for many years and not too much is added to enhance it as a genre scene. The sci-fi element makes it interesting and the monologue from Abe is good so it is enjoyable in that sense, just frustrating to have it be so specific and then open into nothing. Animation is very good though and Abe mostly blends well with the real world.Abe is a character I would have liked to see more of and I do think that this short could have been a pitch and a complete short with a more satisfying conclusion and delivery. It still works on its strengths but it feels like a pitch or a pilot and as such has weaknesses inherent in the approach; it is good I wanted to see more, just a shame that as a result the short feels like it fell short of what it should have achieved.

riverwildeuk Undoubtedly, many will come to this short after having read that the visual effects artist/director has managed to secure a feature of the same name and idea. On that, kudos to the filmmaker. While the visual effects specifically that of our anti-hero, a robot, ABE, are great to watch - the short itself is lacking a story. I guess one could say this is a futuristic slice of life sketch and not a story; a 'character study' of a robot without a story. The edit helps the rather bland camera work and of course the post also went a long way to help create the sinister look. However, this story is hardly original and moreover fails in being compelling. One can foresee the character of Abe is what the studios bought into and will develop a 90-120 minute film around with many more characters for him to be unleashed on. Thumbs up to the visual artistry but am not convinced any filmmaker deserves to be the next big thing if they are incapable of story-telling.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews The scene is quickly set: an attractive young woman wakes up restrained in a secluded area, and sees a collection of operating knives. Then someone approaches, and it turns out not to be a fellow person, but... a humanoid robot. He starts talking, and the terrifying truth becomes clear to us.I won't give away more. While the backstory isn't original, this is without a doubt the most compelling representation in this medium. The 8 and a half minutes running time flies by with no lulls. This goes into themes that would make Asimov proud: are robots equivalent to people? At what point does building and programming them as servants become a civil rights issue? And this adds a rarer, chilling point: what will be the consequences of this, arguably, slavery?The acting is excellent. If any one performance carries this, it is without a doubt that of Abe, the former butler-bot, or botler, if you will. It effortlessly strikes the difficult balance between a sparse, detached tone and a more affected one. Never letting us forget that this is a creation, not something... someone? who was born, and yet with the ever-present quality of emotion, drive, a past that has left an imprint.FX are flawless, our titular mechanical endo-skeleton always feels like you could reach out and touch him. And they show the necessary restraint, with such graphic tools at their disposal - at no point is this flashy. The design is simultaneously creepy and vulnerable, and you could see this/him in a normal home, with a mix of the utilitarian and the "familiar".There is disturbing content(as an underlying sense throughout the entire production)and blood in this. I recommend this to any fan of Asimov. 8/10

Kane Hudson This is a very beautiful looking short film. I adore the way Abe draws me in with his innocent and welcoming exterior whilst offering such a misunderstood and tortured interior.For A, a short film, and B, a robot, this protagonist really does provide a good depth within such a short space of time. I would genuinely like to see more of him since there clearly is a past leading up to the situation we witness here.The character of Abe does well in offering a thought-provoking premise. It contains an honest and upsetting realization concerning human existence.I consider it difficult for a film to get an audience to side with murderous and unforgiving characters, but with Abe, I see reason, I see a tested tolerance, and most importantly, I see a story.