Film Critic, the founder of Leitura Filmica

To begin with, the plot takes place mostly in the daylight, under a bright sun in a banana plantation, and not during the night in a corn field, the preferred site for horror pictures. Besides, it seems that the intention is not to scare the viewer, as there are no bloody images – the violence is hidden – and no such tricks as jump scares. 

On the other hand, the movie embraces other horror characteristics. For instance, the use of children as main characters, and the fast motion to give a non-humane impression about them. Along with that, one of the child girls is a creature with long ears, and a ritual marks the transformation of the protagonist.

Synopsis:

Little JAZ (7) is heading home after being picked up by her MOTHER (29) when bad luck strikes in the middle of nowhere. A car punture. Jaz finds herself in front of a Banana Plantation which really fasinated her. She wanders inside the plantation as she hears beautiful music coming from behind the trees. A strange encounter with a Musical Indian ELF ( 16) gets her dancing into a Hypnotic state. She is lured into a strange old and different world and made to work as a Slave.
Jaz looks weak and fragile but she is the chosen one to take down the cruel and evil PLANTATION MASTER (50).

Slavery is a terrifying practice. Therefore, it adequately fits in the horror genre. Darn Plantation, short film by director Ed Mann, develops its metaphoric story in this realm but avoiding the most common cliches.

Filmed on location, Darn Plantation presents an above the average production that stands out from the regular beginners’ short films. The costume design and the makeup also reinforce this positive impression, as does the camera that captures well-chosen framings.

The pacing is fast, except for the long dialogue scene between the protagonist and the creature, who explains too many details that are not really necessary to the narrative. And the sequence that follows it, when the slaver threatens the girl, has many problems of raccord and editing – besides, everything that is within the frame matters, and the rope behind the landlord in one of these shots is a harmful distraction. Moreover, near the end, it is not clear if the car approaching the plantation is a new victim or a flashback of the slaver, as there is a shot of him looking up as if remembering it.

Darn Plantation certainly delvers its message against slavery efficiently. But by choosing to film it in the horror genre only in its format, it loses the opportunity to touch the emotions of the viewer, whether with scares or with the drama. Anyway, the movie never falls flat, and manages to engage the audience by delivering what is expected from the protagonist, the victim that turns into a vengeful hero that does not refrain from using violence to escape from the terrible destiny that is being build up around her.  

On top of that, as stated in the letterings in the beginning of the film, slavery can happen in any time, in any place. It is not limited to the African people during the colonization years, which is the first idea most people have. So here it happens to white young children in an indetermined place (the three moon in the horizon implies it is not even in our planet). Nevertheless, the villain is the traditional white landlord that characterized most of the slave masters of the 16th to the 19th centuries.