Short Film

PORTAL: NO ESCAPE (2011) Short Film: Dan Trachtenberg, Danielle Rayne

Danielle Rayne, Portal No Escape

Portal: No Escape Short FilmDan Trachtenberg‘s Portal: No Escape (2011) short film stars Danielle Rayne. Portal: No Escape‘s plot synopsis: “Chell, a prisoner,… discovers an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (Portal gun) and uses it to try and escape imprisonment but all is not what is seems.”

This is a pretty cool science fiction short film but I enjoyed Dan Trachtenberg’s previous effort, the More than You Can Chew Short Film, far more. I also prefer the tech present in the Bionic short film. That being said, all the allusions to Danielle Rayne resembling Sarah Connor from Terminator: Judgement Day I can see but Lena Headey‘s Sarah Connor for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is the one that has left a lasting impression in my mind.

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The people behind the Portal video game have got to be happy that their main concept is being used in a venue like this.

Some Portal: No Escape facts and figures:

  • The movie stars Danielle Rayne, who has been working on tv for the last two decades, including a regular stint on All My Children.
  • If the strong female action character reminds you of Sarah Conner, it isn’t a coincidence — Rayne played Conner in the Terminator 2: 3D show at Universal Studios Hollywood.
  • Diggnation/TRS host Alex Albrecht has a cameo as one of the masked guards.
  • The film is scored by Mike Zarin, who is probably best known as the composer of the first Inception trailer (listen here). While Zack Hemsey gets most of the credit with his trailer song “Mind Hiest”, Zarin was the composer responsible for the now infamous “BRRRRRRRAAAAAWWWWRWRRRMRMRMMRMRMMMMM!!!” which not only the other Inception trailers built upon, but went on to influence Hans Zimmer’s approach for score for the film.
  • Dan’s brother David Trachtenberg edited the short. David has edited episodes of HBO’s “Funny or Die Presents…” and is cureently working on the upcoming Will Ferrell/Gael García Bernal comedy Casa de mi Padre.
  • Visual Effects Supervisor Jon Chesson has worked on the television series V, True Blood, Falling Skies and the upcoming film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

Watch the Portal: No Escape short film below and leave your thoughts on it in the comments section. For more short films, check out our Short Film Page.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4drucg1A6Xk 500 430]

Source: Slashfilm

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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