Fantastic Fest 2010 Review: Short Fuse! Severe Fantastic Shorts
Short Fuse! Severe Fantastic Shorts
Fantastic Fest 2010
Review by: Damon Swindall
One of my favorite things about film festivals is getting to see short films. Budding filmmakers everywhere usually get their start in this medium, yet only a handful of people ever really see them. There is no real market for short films in the mainstream movie-watching world, so these brief works are banished to the festival circuit and certain award shows. If these filmmakers did not go this route there is a good chance they would never make it in the industry. Financing for features has come out of doing a short film, as well as seeing one’s directing chops and deciding they would handle a project well.
Of course, with a festival geared toward the genre side of things, as is the case with Fantastic Fest, you know these are not going to be the run-of-the-mill shorts. There will be blood, sex, monsters, laughs and chills. Nothing is off limits here which makes the shorts program all the more entertaining. Personally, I would love to see short films more accessible outside of festivals. A few years ago, Synapse released a DVD of some of the favorites of Montreal’s Fantasia Festival’s Small Gauge Trauma series; I wish Fantastic Fest’s Tim League would try to do the same with the best of the Short Fuse! series. Maybe he’ll read this and get to work on it right away. I can always dream, can’t I?
All of the films presented in this year’s program, called Short Fuse! Severe Fanstastic Fest Shorts, are great and even my least favorite of the group were still highly entertaining. Here is a rundown of what they had to offer in order of least favorite to favorite.
La Petite Mort – Germany – Directed by: Jan Gallasch
A young nurse sneaks into a patient’s room to inject him with a mysterious blue liquid and pleasure herself as his body convulses, her orgasm growing closer as his body becomes closer to death. There isn’t much in the way of story to this short, but I will say it’s damn erotic.
5 Minute Dating – Canada – Directed by: Peter Hatch
A group of singles get together for one of those speed dating nights. One of the daters has a bit of a deformity which is not too well hidden by his wearing of tuxedo and top hat. Still, there is one girl there who just may be the perfect match for him. This is a more light entry into the program with a few laughs and a bit of the red stuff. There are some really funny moments from the cast of normal looking people at the dating event reacting to the odd man across the table from them.
To My Mother and Father – UK – Directed by: Can Evrenol
A young child puts on a mask and hides in his parent’s bedroom closet to scare them. Then they come in and begin having some very odd sex against the closet door. Something happens to the young kid and he transforms from a child into a hideous beast with a thirst for blood. What really works about this are the creature FX and the gore. Things get really messy and the gross body transformation would make Cronenberg smile.
Off Season – USA – Directed by: Jonathan van Tulleken
An alcoholic thief makes his way through summer cottages during the extremely cold, snowy off-season to steal what the owners have left behind. While in search of more good liquor he heads to a home off the path where he’s never been and, along with his dog companion, discovers something truly horrific waiting inside. This is a really well-made and thought-out short, but there is something about it that just didn’t connect with me. It’s one I definitely would like to see again. You can see Editor-in-chief Marc Patterson’s more full review in our Horror In Short feature.
United Monster Talent Agency – USA – Directed by: Greg Nicotero
You may recognize the director’s name here as the make-up FX extraordinaire of KNB (where he is the “N”), but here in his first directorial outing you won’t find copious amounts of blood or the gross and gory. Nicotero pays homage to the classic movie monsters he grew up with from the Universal days. The short is played as an old newsreel that would have played before a feature where the monsters in movies are real and they are all represented by one agency. Very funny and there are some wonderful make-up FX jobs on the different classic creatures, of course. Can’t wait to see what he does next!
Interview – Germany – Directed by: Sebastian Marka
This thriller short takes a look at a journalist who has set-up an interview with a serial killer. The two chat, somewhat uncomfortably, in a quiet room about the atrocities the man has committed. Things take an interesting turn when the killer begins to imply he has met the journalist’s wife. This short takes the the twenty minute runtime and gives you more twists and turns than you would expect. To say anything else about this great short would be a disservice. See it whenever and however you can.
Deus Irae – Argentina – Directed by: Pedro Cristiani
A trio of exorcists head to a home where a young girl is possessed by the devil. Things get wild for this group and very messy as they battle demons from the underworld in this tiny cottage. Our heroes seem like action stars, and out of all the shorts this is the one I would most like to see expanded to feature length. You could have so much fun with this underground organization of Bible-slingers. Think a little bit of Hellboy mixed with The Exorcist and a lot of splatter.
And now a three-way-tie for my favorite short of the bunch…
Rosenhill – Sweden – Directed by: Johan Lunborg & Johan Storm
An elderly woman is taken by her family to a nursing home where she has some trouble adjusting to the life. Most of the problems stem from a man with dementia who screams into the night. After voicing her problems with him, she sees two of the staff murdering him later that night. No one will believe her and she has to try to get out of the facility before she becomes the next victim. The directors said they wanted to make something that was truly scary to them and that was growing old. They definitely deliver on that front and this is an interesting, haunting look at the loss of youth and what may very well await many of us in our later years.
The Legend of Beaver Dam – Canada – Directed by: Jerome Sable
A group of kiddie campers gather around the campfire as their leader sings a song about the local legendary killer Stumpy Sam. When his song brings the murderer to their campsite, the nerdy Danny Zigwitz has to protect everyone. Oh, and did I mention it’s all a musical number?! That’s right, amongst all the bloodshed, of which there is plenty, the cast of characters belt out rock opera inspired musical numbers. This short has everything you want from deep belly laughs to some pretty sick gore. Fantastic indeed.
Ninjas – Brazil – Directed by: Dennison Ramalho
This tale of Brazilian police corruption follows an officer conflicted after shooting and killing a young boy instead of the suspect he was chasing. He looks to religion and his superior at work to help but gets dragged into some horrible underground escapades with his fellow officers. These acts he must commit for protection and silence from his co-workers is beyond his comprehension, but he has to do something to make the ghosts stop chasing him. This tale is extremely creepy and brutal, everything an extreme horror fan is looking to find. Some people labeled this among the most disturbing things seen at the whole festival and that is saying a lot.
