By Following up on the heels of the release of yet another sci-fi story with Sigourney Weaver last week, Neill Blomkamp’s OATS Studio has released a new sci-fi short film on both YouTube and the game distribution platform Steam.
Taking place in 1970 during the height of the Vietnam War, Firebase brings a bit of the mystical and the alien to the dense jungles of Vietnam and tells the story of a man who has visions of a spectre that has been ravaging the American troops, a man who was transported through time, and the CIA operative who is trying to stop that which he doesn’t understand. Firebase suffers a bit from not having relateable characters like Rakka did but overall it was still enjoyable, especially for the price of Free Fiddy. Of course if you wanna pitch in 5 American Dollars on Steam you get a whole slew of assets from the shorts including HQ reels, CGI models and audio tracks.
While this is in no way making up for the lack of the more than likely cancelled Alien sequel written and directed by Blomkamp, I am enjoying these shorts as I genuinely think he is one of the best chances for the future of science fiction movies. It is also encouraging to see a filmmaker putting his stuff out there for free for all to see while also providing the tools for younger filmmakers to push their experience along.
