Rhyme or Die
2023 · 11m
Genres: dark comedy, horror, thriller
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, tense
Five kidnapped strangers are forced to rhyme to their captor’s funky beats – or die.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A premise so genuinely unhinged—hostages forced into freestyle battle rap under duress—that it shouldn't work, but the film commits to the absurdity with such conviction that it becomes this perfectly warped pressure cooker. Everyone else would've played it safe; Felix is exactly right that this is the film that gets under your skin precisely because it refuses to.
While the high-concept gimmick threatens to overwhelm, the film demonstrates restraint in its staging and a disciplined approach to tension through rhythm and sound design—qualities that anchor what could've been pure novelty into something with genuine formal stakes.
The decision to use the captor's funky beats as the tonal and structural spine—turning the score into both threat and structure—is what elevates this from a one-joke premise into something that actually breathes; that single choice about rhythm as narrative logic is doing all the heavy lifting.
Reviews
Mein liebster Kurzfilm der Woche kommt von Rasp Films. „Rhyme or Die“ hält eine wunderbare Mischung aus unmenschlicher Grausamkeit und auflockernden Elementen parat.