Switch On

“Disturbing imagery and uncomfortable tension help to create a powerful experience that will attract a larger audience…”

A young insomniac student who is trying to navigate his end-of-year exams is told one of his grades isn't good enough, causing his perfectionist attitude into a spiral.

Writer/Director Esmond Levi Yao’ unique approach to the horror genre has a unique and well thought out execution, making Switch On really stand out. There are countless subtleties at play here including story, pace, sound and performances that work together to great effect. This feels like a film that Yao really poured himself into and make his mark. The tone of the film is quite unsettling even before we delve further into a lead characters subconscious, helping to build to the finale and keep the audience on their toes.

The concept is not one we’ve seen before in that it focuses on students during exam time, making for a perfect opportunity to build on the rising tension and anxiety felt at that time. More importantly, it’s well produced given its tiny budget and makes use of a pool of background artists to create authenticity in the world around our main character. Frances Walker who plays the unhinged History Teacher Ms Eis is our first prelude that things are not as they seem and what our lead character is up against.

Alexander played by the talented Sion Symonds delivered a strong performance and felt right at home in the role. Symonds has the rare talent of believability, which is not something you find in every actor. With simple and fairly sparse dialogue, Symonds made every word count and you believed every word he said whilst also paying close attention to the space between the lines.

Superb cinematography from Director of Photography James Stittle and the crew who captured Yao’ vision with total precision. The distinct colour palette and soft lighting made for a compelling watch and certainly went above what budget was available. The same can be said of the locations they used which were simple but effective, allowing for a range of framing options and blocking.

Dario Durbe ingenious score was truly unsettling and in line with the sporadic dialogue, used only when needed to raise the anxiety in the lead character. In fact, sound was one of the films highlights and was executed well from the whole team.

We hope to see more from Yao’ work in the future as this is a good entry. The use of disturbing imagery and uncomfortable tension help to create a powerful experience that will attract a larger audience along with die hard horror fans…

— APEX Film Awards