Phillip Human
It’s a vlog’s life
Release Date: OUT NOW!
Ten parts ( Four to nine minutes each) Distributor: Wildseed Studios Director: Andy Mosse
Phillip Human ( Paul
Neafcy) is a vlogger. And like any other vlogger, he’s keen to show viewers around his bedroom, introduce them to his pets, and get them to comment on his videos. Unlike most vloggers, though, Phillip is a monster – as in “Frankenstein’s”. Over the course of this 10- part web series, Phillip explores his weird world, and ultimately finds out what he’s made of.
Slickly shot, with some impressive set design, there’s a charming silliness to the series. Mostly, that’s due to Neafcy’s lack of self- consciousness, which lets him gurn and roll around with unconstrained glee. Underneath that silliness, though, is an awful lot of sadness. Phillip is a lost soul, a childlike persona trapped in the scarred- up body of a man, and while the initial joke is that he doesn’t realise he’s not normal, that soon stops being funny. Instead, it’s just kind of tragic.
There’s some smart subversion of internet memes in the latter half of the series, but all the action is saved for the last episode; given the format, that feels like a mistake, since the first few episodes don’t offer enough incentive for viewers to come back for more.
The whole thing ends on a cliffhanger, but with most of the story’s plotlines wrapped up, the biggest question it poses is, “Wait, how did he upload that?” If there’s going to be a second series, the writers will need to find a way to inject more life into their horror comedy creation without turning it into a lumbering abomination. Sarah Dobbs The series also features Katy Carmichael, probably best known to SFX readers for her role in Spaced, as Daisy’s friend Twist.