by Nikk Nelson, Staff Writer

Back in May, I reviewed The Good People of Orphan Ridge, a solid indie flick from filmmaker Matthew Fisher. A few weeks ago, Matt reached out to me with some very kind words and mentioned his most recent project, a short film called Consumer, had wrapped and was being submitted to festivals. As a fan, I offered to review it as well.

I didn’t need to be sold on the idea of seeing it but for good measure Matt mentioned that Consumer starred Nate Ridgeway who had a small but to me standout part in the feature I reviewed. Diving into the short film, I got immediate Night of the Creeps vibes, which I loved. And I’m a sucker for malls and synthwave scores. Nate plays a character named Matt Fisher, a sensitive, artistic, teen who is tormented by bullies for being sensitive and artistic. Matt giving the main character his own name, I have to assume this is at least partially autobiographical and I find that vulnerability to be very admirable. Art is the best therapy.

With names like Johnny Porterhouse, the bullies are straight out of a Troma movie, especially Jeffy aka “Spiky Ball” played by Jeffrey Nichols, the standout performance for me this time around. They steal Matt’s sketchbook and his money, leaving him to wander the mall penniless, and with a taste for revenge. Enter the eccentric Dave, the clerk of a new videogame store called Tech, who seems to me to have wandered straight out of The Greasy Strangler. Dave turns Matt on to a new computer game (floppy disk and all) called Consumer that just might help Matt with his bully problem. Back home with the game fired up, Matt is faced with a decision: forgive or C O N S U M E? Quickly, Matt finds out the game isn’t so much a fantasy as it is a reality, especially the consuming entity itself.

All of the strengths present in The Good People of Orphan Ridge are on display in this short. The effects, especially the videogame effects, are really solid, well executed, and humorous. The music, set design, cinematography—Matthew Fisher has collected an amazing crew full of incredibly talented people and together, they are doing some stellar filmmaking. My only real criticism comes just from being a fan of Nate Ridgeway, and feeling like their strengths are on better display when they have a lot of dialogue, especially sarcastic dialogue, to work with. Nate’s performance here is quieter and more subdued, which is fair, because that’s what the material calls for. The performance is still great, I just wanted to see Nate do and say more.

In our email exchanges, Matt admits he’s currently struggling with marketing his projects. They have since established an Instagram @matthewfisherfilms and you can find additional work on their website matthew fisher. I don’t doubt that Consumer will find success on the festival circuit, so keep an eye out for it. I sincerely hope it leads to more people recognizing Matt’s talent and opening more doors for them to create whatever they want to do next. I’ll be here for it.