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Must Watch: Ruairi Robinson's Full Twisted/Brilliant Short 'Blinky™'

by Alex Billington
March 20, 2011
Source: QE, Vimeo

Soon every home will have a robot helper. Don't worry. It's perfectly safe. Do you guys remember seeing that awesome teaser trailer for that rather creepy looking short called Blinky™? The one with the eerie Android robot look-alike. The short stars Max Records from Where The Wild Things Are and is written & directed by Ruairi Robinson, the Irish filmmaker who almost directed Akira then did a short titled The Silent City. Well thanks to a hot tip by Quiet Earth, the entire Blinky™ short can be viewed below, as it was uploaded on Vimeo. It's as crazy/sick/twisted/brilliant/awesome as you're expecting, so have fun and put the kids away!

Watch Ruairi Robinson's full-length short film Blinky™:

Blinky™ is the creation of Irish filmmaker Ruairi Robinson, an up-and-coming director with a few shorts in his filmography, including the Oscar nominated Fifty Percent Grey. Robinson wrote and directed this as his feature debut. Early on he was attached to Warner Bros' live-action Akira, but I think they wanted someone with a bit more experience, so Robinson focused on a smaller film as his first feature. This was shot mostly in/around Los Angeles and was finished filming last year. You can find more info about this on Robinson's official website or get more updates from his Twitter. Hope you guys enjoyed watching that! Thoughts?

Filed under Feat, SciFi, Short Film, To Watch

From around the web:

Zakabitz

The pacing seemed a bit off on the editing. The special effects are top notch though.
- Zakabitz
  
  The Silent City had pacing issues too. He's not an editor, thats for sure.
http://blog.myspace.com/shero_rauf shero

Great work ...kind a Wall-E stuff.. nice CGI .. even it is easy to animate such robotic models but it is so hard to putt feelings to it .. Of course it depend on the silence and the music too in such moments to enhance the feeling of non organic creature ..
http://twitter.com/ModAmericanMan Modern American Man

The premise started strong: Lonely boy who's parents argue needs a friend. Enter Blinky: The round faced, short, friendly robot. The build-up started a bit late and climaxed quickly. I felt act 2 could have been shorted by 90 seconds and act 3 could have had more tension.
Michael

HA!, THIS IS BRILLIANT. THE GUYS FROM DEAL DEAL PRO WOULD NEVER BE A ABLE TO WRITE SOMETHING IS COOL. THEY JUST TALK! BUT GOOD SHORT FILM, WORTHY OF AN ACADEMY AWARD. GREAT DIRECTOR. VERY PROMISING.
- http://twitter.com/ModAmericanMan Modern American Man
  
  But is it necessary to scream it? Wow. Caps Lock for the win.
Jr

Man the kid was so annoying
Cruzer

Thank God he killed that kid, otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to sit through the rest of that.
Chad

I don't think it was very well done. The change between good and evil robot/kid was too dramatic. I like the Titus Andronicus stuff at the end though.
- JL
  
  The robot wasn't changing from good to evil. He did as he was told. He killed the dog, he killed the kid, he killed his parents, and then he started on all the rest. Kill everyone, remember.
http://twitter.com/COOLNINJADUDE John Montagna

I'm never buying a robot! D:
Lar

It would've been better without the last images. If it just ended with him closing the door (and also, if his head didn't do that spinny thing), it would've been top notch.
- Anonymous
  
  Completely agree. I wanted to say exactly that. Thanks
Jseathroo

love the "Boards Of Canada esque" tunes in the Blinky commercial.
Nocsyn

I thought this was supposed to be a feature? Great idea but not executed very well
Moviekid

that scared the crap out of me, plus the kid was pretty annoying, and so were the parents. but overall, scary and awesome
Robot

My robot would have killed the parents first.
IAMMURLOC

That kid was annoying, SOOO glad he died.
Anonymous

This was awesome! I didn't find the pacing bad at all. And yes, maybe the transition was a little rushed, but it's a short. The ending (dinner scene) caught me off guard, which is exactly what i want to experience watching a movie. Very well done, much ,much better than the last short you posted
stfugtfo

i am awesomo 4000
Anonymous

its adorable ill take zem all !!!!!!!
bltzie

This was very very good. I also didn't find problems with the pacing, great work overall. Btw is this kid, Max Records, a little prick in all of his projects?
- Bogart
  
  Yeah, it's him... I don't understand how he keeps getting cast in these 'indie-projects'. Acting obnoxious and always barking/ yelling your lines does not make the character of a child feel more real or honest... it's just annoying and 1-dimensional. Otherwise, it's an interesting short if a bit one-note.
  - Anonymous
    
    Give him a rest. He was awesome in Wtwta!
  - Anonymous
    
    When he said "this is the best Christmas ever"...that was some horrible acting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9emWB_rrMt0 Crapola

Should have smothered the kid pretty quickly, but the film was great.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000632406035 John Guido

I felt like throwing up when he said he cleaned and cooked the boy.
- Anonymous
  
  I felt like applauding. One of us is wrong...
http://www.facebook.com/danielvutran Daniel Vu Tran

pacing was off, loved the dinner scene though, his head spinning seemed silly though lmfao. -.-
Jim Bean

Started off good, but from 70% on till the end it burned in flames like the kid in the oven, haha! Nice attempt for a decent short-film though. To those who are in to short-films, the ANACHRONISM is still my favorite. May not be your slice of butter, but suspenseful all the way to the end. Haunting music, beautiful cinematography, and a gripping story that makes you beg for more. Wish it were a little longer, but it's short-films like this that made twilight zone so epic. Check it out: http://vimeo.com/11034820
Blinky

with a snotty so annoying, everybody would lose any sanity
Jack White

"chaos it's like gravity all that needs it's a little push"
Bauzer

Wow, messed up. Pretty good stuff though. I'm glad that kid is dead, he was a tool.
Bettyb

Blinky was provoked... Lol ...poor blinky he only wanted to "serve" man
- JL
  
  Oh, I see what you did, there...
Anonymous

Well at least it wasn't an iPhone!
Carpio

I loved it. Great dark idea.
quityosleanin

that was awful.
Tye1119

I liked it but it was off a bit. I thought when he was saying "no problem" so many times, he was taking in all the orders he was giving; kill everyone. I also thought it was chilling when he said "I did what you asked" thinking he was killing while the boy was sleep, but that wasn't the case. Cool short though.
- Cody W.
  
  I think when it comes to doing what he asked he meant for killin the dog, cause the shot after showed the empty doghouse. You knew he had taken the orders in when he said that number he was counting down before he got reset.
Cody W.

Id say its unhealthy that I kinda laughed a bit at the dinner table scene but yeah that kid was just asking for it from the audience and Blinky. Blinky did everything the kid asked him too, I even bet his parents arent fighting anymore.....lol. Must say overall that was awesome, wish they had like an extra minute near the end to milk that creepy atmosphere it had. That very last shot was just completely unnecessary though, almost worked against it.
- Anonymous
  
  "I even bet his parents arent fighting anymore",lool, this made me laugh except they're dead too
Mrianwebb

Jesus...all that time and money spent...and that's how they end it?
tir na nog

cool short
THEMOVIELOVER1999

THAT KID IS SUCH A JERK BLINKY MADE TO DO THAT OR DID HE DO IT BECAUSE THE KID WAS SO MEAN I KINDA FELT BAD FOR BLINKY WHEN THE KID STARTED BEING A JERK
Lamar

Anybody else feel bad when Blinky said he cooked the kid? No? Me neither. I liked the fact that they didn't portray Blinky as an evil or malfunctioning robot, he just did EXACTLY what he was told which was in his programming, although he clearly wasn't programmed with the first law of robotics. Great short film.
- Bella
  
  Neither the first..Nor the second...Nor the third...3 rules needed badly! Great film indeed though
http://twitter.com/Nielsen700 M.K. Nielsen

Kid totally had that coming.