By BREANNA WHIPPLE
Starring Paulo Calatré, Sérgio Godinho and Mariana Pacheco
Written by António Miguel Pereira and Tiago Pimentel
Directed by Tiago Pimentel
Jângal Studios
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE APOCALYPSE is a bite-sized horror shocker that feels a little like Threads (1984) meets George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. That is to say, it taps into a specific anxiety that causes the stomach to turn and the heart to race. 
Following the nuclear devastation of World War III, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE APOCALYPSE paints a harrowing portrait of a blackened earth soiled further by totalitarian control. Boasting a horrifying brand of fascism reminiscent of both the Nazis and the Soviets, the short film presents a future that is nothing short of a reflection of the past, suggesting that if we do not learn our history, we are doomed to repeat it.
Masterfully written and directed, tension builds solely through the use of dialogue in an admirably calculated way. Climaxing into a dramatic, albeit violent and grisly conclusion, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE APOCALYPSE forces us to look at a painful reality and serves as a reminder that those who start the wars do not fight them. The price is always paid by our own blood and sacrifice. Furthermore, it forces us to acknowledge the fragility of human life and how it can never be recovered once taken away.
