"Severus Snape and the Marauders" is a 25-minute short film that was released two weeks ago and was written and directed by Justin Zagri. It went pretty viral on Youtube recently. The title already tells you that this is a fan-made movie, which takes place in the world of Harry Potter, but does not star him, Hermione and Ron. It takes place a little earlier in history with the focus on young Severus and Harry's father, who turns out to be quite a bully. The question with fan films is always: Without the references to the series, would this have been a good film in its own right? And my answer here is a yes. Visual effects are superb, especially when we see these 4 animal creatures in the fire. Story is good too and delivers from a dramatic as well as emotional perspective. Casting is fine, all the actors are solid. Overall, I did not see any real greatness here, but it was a decent film on par with the weaker moments from the movies. I recommend checking it out.

The film sticks close to what is known from canon, but also allows itself some freedom to offer a well thought out plot. Removing the Harry-filter (the books being mostly told from his point of view) enables this story to really look at the dynamics between the Marauders, Snape and Lily, without getting sidetracked by Harry's prejudices, or other plot developments around it.At first one might think this film is focused around the duel, the effects, the suspense. Yet the aftermath shows that the topic of bullying and the result of actions is very prevalent. The well constructed dialogue along with the in-depth portrayal of the characters invites the viewer to review their take on them and on the escalation of "harmless" bullying.Whilst the film does not try to change canon, it certainly offers a new perspective on some central characters. From the reactions I have seen, some viewers have increased their like/dislike of some of them, whilst others have found understanding, a new take or a fuller grasp of the dynamics. This film successfully evoke thought, discussion and further development of character-understanding amongst its viewers.

I don't have the words to tell you how grateful I am for what you and your guys did.This is absolutely amazing!!! The music is fantastic just like the effects. I could go on watching for hours. You all have my respect. I hope you will make another short movie. Good work! 👍 (I know you're supposed to like James because he's Harry Potter's dad and all that s**t but I can't help myself, Snape is just one of my favorite characters.) The actor who plays Severus did a fantastic job. This may be a fan-film, but I personally accept this as canon. I am very impressed. I don't care what anyone says THIS is canon now!

Although this is certainly a good fan film, it does not live up to its predecessor and feels as if it was constructed out of wishful fantasy, more akin to tragedy turned joyful story- little is presented as to why Snape would turn to Voldemort afterwards, especially if Lily offered to forgive him if he kept away from dark magic. This wishful fan film offers up a happy ending chapter, to a tragedy not meant to give a joyous scene. Lots of effects and fluff added to make an intriguing duel but not a necessarily engaging one. The acting was fairly spot on, but the overall story arc when compared to the entirety of the Harry Potter universe was in fact very off- although Snape would have liked to have apologized to Lily, there is a great deal of evidence that he never did- this memory would have been foremost in his guilt when Harry peruses his memories. Although this is good entertainment, it corrupts and misuses multiple characters and story lines which inevitably drags the entire story down with it.