Indie Film Podcast Review: Honor's Half-Life

When an old army buddy is overtaken by a horrifying radioactive virus, a veteran and his daughter are forced to do the unthinkable to contain the quickly evolving threat.

Written by Victoria Horn.

A Visceral Sci-Fi Short Built on Trust, Secrecy, and Unfair Choices

Honor’s Half-Life swings for the fences in a sub ten minute short film that puts family drama, military tactics, and mental health under the microscope while delighting audiences with slow-burn tension and satisfying visual effects. 

On the subject of visual effects, Honor’s Half-Life hits a rare sweet spot in the sci-fi/horror/thriller space, leaning heavily on practical effects and grounded performances, supplementing them with digital enhancements only where they matter most. The result feels tactile and immersive, rather than flashy for the sake of spectacle. 

Having been privileged enough to watch more than one of Robert Flowers’ films, I can confidently say his signature style of airdropping you into the middle of a story is fully present here. Unlike many short film creators, especially those with wild or unrealistic worlds to build, Flowers doesn’t rely on heavy-handed exposition to get the audience up to speed. (Something the latest season of Stranger Things perhaps could have tried.) Instead of wasting time on drawn-out explanations, he trusts his audience to keep up. That trust is well-earned. Thanks to strong, well-directed performances, the film is never difficult to follow, even if it rewards a rewatch to catch all the nuances you might miss the first time around.

This film delves into some uncomfortable spaces, especially for the genre; father-daughter

bonds, blind dedication, surreptitious military operations, and mental health, all under the not-so-rose-tinted tone of mandated secrecy. It explores how staying true to ourselves and our promises can sometimes mean betraying the people we love most, framed through a vignetted look at a father and daughter on what should be a routine afternoon errand.

I would be remiss if I didn’t call out just how upsetting the final conflict in this film is. Not because it wasn’t delicately (and artfully) foreshadowed when we first met our leading cast, but because of how profoundly unjust it is. It’s the ultimate conflict of protecting your children versus trusting them to tell you who they are. It’s gut-wrenching, it’s uncomfortably relatable, and the performances of both Alex Petrovich (Joe) and Kyra Wellington (Grace) sing together in this closeout sequence. 

Indie Film Podcast Recommendation: Buy this film!

If you’re looking for a film that will have you angrily screaming at your screen (it’s ok to need that cathartic release) then you, too, will enjoy Honor’s Half-Life. But any film that elicits such a visceral reaction always deserves a proud “Buy It” rating in my book. To anyone looking to purchase the film, I have even better news, Honor’s Half-Life is now streaming on the Dust Channel for free, despite my “Buy It” recommendation.

Watch Honor’s Half-Life now on the Dust YouTube Channel.