Folks, I’ll preface my remarks today by saying that I have never, literally NEVER, seen a short film used to promote a book before.  Thus, even if it’s complete crap, the sheer uniqueness is probably going to land this sucker at least a four out of ten.

The Screenhead Ten Scale is already warming up.

But anyway, the plot–The Enemy is a short film about a strange plague that sweeps the country and affects anyone over the age of fourteen.  Most of them died.

Most of them….

So yes, it’s post-Apocalyptic fare at its most ominous.  After all, it’s not exactly the kind of thing you can just give a dismissive back of hand “bah!” to outright, now can you?  Who knows what kind of strange diseases some rogue terrorist nation is working on at this very moment that may do something exactly like this?

And though this short film is little more than a massive commercial, it succeeds in three important facets.

1. It’s scary as all hell.  Seriously, this guy is a terrific actor.  And the make up involved is horrifying.

2. It’s compelling.  I don’t know about you, but I definitely want to get my hands on a copy of this book.

3. It stands on its own merits.  Yes, it’s mostly talking. It’s seven minutes of some guy talking into a camera.  But when you combine his own skill as an actor with the incredible makeup job and the feasibility of the plot, what you’re left with is a surprising and rather scary experience.

As a short film, it’s sufficiently scary if a bit too dialogue intensive.  As a book commercial it’s an absolute juggernaut.

And the Screenhead Ten Scale is left to try and rate this, and hands it an eight out of ten for doing its job, doing it exceedingly well, and yet at the same time being so thoroughly crass that it can’t get full marks.