Raise your hand if you were a fan of the show Boy Meets World. Chances are you watched the show and/or catch it now in syndication and sometimes wonder what various members of the cast are doing now. Well, Cory and Topanga are going to be parents in the spin-off show Girl Meets World, but what happened to Shawn, a.k.a. Rider Strong? That’s a good question because after the movie Cabin Fever Strong seemed to have disappeared, until now.
It turns out Strong went to college and became a film essayist/critic. He has a podcast called Literary Disco and with his brother writes and directs his own movies. What does this have to do with The Dungeon Master? This short film is one written and directed by Strong and his brother, Shiloh, and it’s good.
The basic premise is that two guys are discussing how bad a game of charades is going at a party and decide to invite some friends over for a game of Dungeons and Dragons. Things turn dark and go awry after one of the guys gets nasty with the dungeon master. It’s thirteen minutes long and at the end you’re left wanting more. So, how does Strong size up as a writer and director? He’s actually pretty good. The short is well directed, it’s hard to get into what works considering its length and it’s mostly about the dialogue, but there are a few shots where one wonders what the budget was, as it looks beautiful.
The acting is good, there are some familiar faces, especially if you watch VH1 and are a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Warren from that show, a.k.a. actor Adam Busch, is one of the main actors. The acting is well done considering the length of the short and each actor really shines in their roles. The dungeon master is the epitome of a nerd’s nerd. He shows up to the game wearing a cloak and a large case housing the materials needed to run the game. He’s very out of place with a bunch of former nerds who have tried hard to shed the nerd image and act “normal.”
The writing is the strong point here. The dialogue is natural, though when one of the characters gets dark it seems out of the blue. The story would’ve benefited from a bit more time to flesh out the characters. Just as we get to start to know them the short is over. Overall this is a good movie and it’s nice to see that Rider Strong hasn’t disappeared completely. He’s a great writer and you can see his film criticism coming through in this short. Let’s hope that this is the start of something great. The Dungeon Master is almost two years old but has finally been released this week via iTunes for $2.99.