Erax review: A well-paced take on children's fantasy?

Netflix has just released a new fantasy-horror short, titled Erax, directed by Hebru Brantley, who also co-wrote the story with Henry G.M. Jones. The film is 15 minutes long and takes a fresh look at the children's fantasy genre through a tried-and-tested formula.

The visual aspects of the film are pleasing, owing to Brantley's background in art and aesthetics. The film does manage to offer something to the audience, even in this overcrowded market of new OTT content coming out every day.

Read on for a detailed review of Erax, which premiered on February 17, 2022.

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Netflix's Erax: An overview

Erax is not drastically different from things that have been done before. Standing on the premise of a children's fantasy novel, the only thing special about the Story Ink production, initially, is its exceptional pacing. The film gets into the premise pretty much instantly when the first scene starts.

The story about a magical (or horrific) book found on the streets, whose prophecies start coming true, is not something new in the world of cinema. From The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014) to Jumanji (Joe Johnston, 1995), this is a sure-fire method that has proven to be very successful in the past.

One fascinating aspect of Erax is its inability to commit to one genre while depicting the horrors. The film relied on a couple of jump scares, a few low-lit scenes with incandescent pacing, and a constant race-against-time atmosphere to build the story. But the monsters in themselves seemed funny, or rather light-hearted. Their approach was threatening but never scary, per se.

This inability to commit to one genre and one-dimensional monsters makes the viewers a little directionless and adds texture to the film. This is not a bad choice in itself, just different. It both gives and takes away from an otherwise common storyline.

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The technical aspects of the monster mystery

The background music of Erax is very minimal. Designed by Emma-Jean Thackray, it is present in a way that nearly seems missing till the chase sequences appear. This is where the music plays an important part in building up tension. It is a clever musical choice, as its absence does not take much away from the film. But when it does become prevalent, it is a noticeable change.

If we are talking about building up tension, mentioning young Genesis White becomes crucial. The young actress did brilliantly in every step of the film. Be it fighting monsters, her disappointment with her aunt, or the final redemption arc, Genesis was the key to holding on to the tension as well as the viewer's attention.

This is facilitated by the camera work by Bongani Mlambo, but it feels like the angles add a bit of undue pressure to the pace of the story. In the long run, this makes the film appear too rushed. It could have been a stylistic choice, but it could have worked better.

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Guilt as a catalyst: The underlying meaning

At its heart, the Netflix film may be a comedy-horror fantasy, but if you try to read between the lines, Hebru Brantley perhaps tried to depict more than just mindless, popcorn-eating horror.

The whole book coming real thing could have been a manifestation of Opal's (played by Jasmine Cephas Jones) guilt for not being a model aunt. In fact, she was far from a model aunt. There were frequent camera angles placing Opal in the foreground of the monsters, which would also perhaps try to suggest the same.

This way, the ending too will make perfect sense, since Opal's acceptance came in tandem with the monsters' disappearance. If it was indeed the depiction of guilt, the script was very clever to guise it as a children's fantasy.

The 15-minute ride is not long, and you should definitely catch a glimpse of the new film on Netflix. All in all, it does have something to offer, if not a host of new things, it is still an honest attempt and deserves to be treated as so.