SHORTS BLOCK 3: “FLESH AND BLOOD”
For the lovers of body horror!
Guts (Chris McInroy)
Trying to get a promotion is nerve-wracking enough, but try it when you diagnosed with a condition that leaves your dripping entrails outside your body! This one had the feel of a love letter to 80s high school humor, complete with the stereotypical meathead antagonist and our hero trying to get the romantic attention of a sweet but aloof coworker.
Minimally Invasive (Adam Harvey, New Zealand)
A routine operation becomes anything but when an obscenely large parasite emerges from the conscious but drugged patient. Could this all be a drugged-induced operation dream from patient? Possibly, but all that blood splatter tells me different.
Numerous Duo (Nick Fiorella, USA)
If you think religion and poop go together, step right up to this short. At a Catholic school, a young girl gets possessed by a foul demon and causes an impromptu exorcism to play out in the school’s bathroom. But instead of spewing bile, this demon flings feces along with its foul language. Very good special effects and thank God we can’t smell what we’re seeing. Holy shit!
Sang Jaune (Julie Roy, Canada)
Jenny is a workaholic reaching her breaking point. One day, her body negatively reacts to the long hours of labor, opening her eyes to new vision of life. The ending shot is beautiful sci-fi, but might be confusing on the first watch, Take a second look at the title’s name, it’s resemblance to another word, and what upside down triangles mean for further contemplation.
Knifehand (Navarrete M. Luis, Mexico)
Two crooked paramedics find themselves in the worlds of dark magic and voodoo after selling a coveted body part on the black market. Although the film shooting shooting and effects are movie-quality, this felt incomplete since we didn’t get to see didn’t get to see the title subject in action.
Nova (David McAbee, USA)
Fans of John Carpenter’s The Thing will get a kick out of this sci-fi showing an infected scientist giving her last pleas to humanity. The difference here is that while The Things‘s transformations were swift and brutal, Nova’s parasitic element brings about a slow, excruciating descent into bodily ruin.
Escalation (Christian Bachini, Italy)
From the demented mind of Christian Bachini, who wrote, directed and produced this wild short. Due to covid and short funds preventing professional actors, Bachini literally put the entire project on his back. Three film crews later, he was finally able to complete Escalation. It tells the story of Chris, a selfish and arrogant man who’s confronted by the ugliness inside him… which may just end up killing him. Bachini is a natural when it comes to physical horror, reminding me of Bruce Campbell’s best from Evil Dead 2. While this could be self-contained, Bachini revealed the rabbit hole goes deeper in this story with potential body doubles and other assorted twists, so let’s hope the funding comes through and we get to see his full vision.
Good Head (Matt Servitto, USA)
An egotistical Hollywood star finds his very soul on the line when a superfan stalker and VFX master creates a plaster model head infused with voodoo doll powers. You could tell the cast had a blast making this and the effects team didn’t cut corners either. There’s fight scenes with plaster body parts representing Jackie Chan’s hands, Jennifer Lopez’s legs and Sylvester Stallone’s bicep (long story lol). Even though this is one of the longer festival shorts at 29 minutes, the pacing was great and this one flew by.
Karen’s Revenge (Stacey Palmer, USA)
Starring social media star “The Bitchy Waiter,” this film takes the “Karen” motif and throws it into overdrive. After perceived bad service and the waiter taking his own complaints online, Karen turns serial killer in the restaurant. Considering the plot, you already know the violence is appropriately over the top and even takes subtle digs at our need to constantly check our phones even when faced with dismemberment and death.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 