Return to Mayhem more teaser than short film

One of two animation shorts I saw at the Arizona Underground Film Festival was The Villikon Chronicles: Return to Mayhem. The three minute short, written by Bryan Kinnaird and directed by Rebecca Friedman, is just a very small segment in The Villikon Chronicles series created by Kinnaird.

This particle piece is inspired by the upcoming live-action movie, The Villikon Chronicles: Genesis of Evil. The characters are based off those from the graphic novels and the original trilogy of screenplays written by Kinnaird.

It’s really hard to say anything about this short because it actually seemed to be more of a teaser trailer for fans of the series. We don’t learn anything about the characters nor do we know why they’re in the situation they’re in and nothing really happens to them. Granted, it’s hard to tell much of a story in three minutes, however, it is possible. Unfortunately, that simply was not the case for Return to Mayhem.

With that being said, I think this piece of animation wasn’t really supposed to have much of a story. It seemed to be something just made for fans of the series to give them something before the live-action film is released. Perhaps, if I were more familiar with the universe Kinnaird has created, I would have taken more away from this short than I did.

As far as the quality of the animation goes, it wasn’t the best and in fact, subpar may be a better way to describe it. It felt as if it were rushed just to get something out there. Had the animation been of better quality, this may have been something I could have enjoyed despite the lack of any real story.

Based on what I saw here, this isn’t really a series I’d want to get involved and caught up with, however, I am a tad bit curious to see what they are able to do with the live-action film when that times rolls around.

For more information on The Villikon Chronicles visit www.villikonchronicles.com