WTF got married and here are more shorts.

Beef Creek (2024): Occultist Mr. Petrulo runs a New York-style deli in middle of nowhere Wyoming with Horace, Sandra, Lily and Ralphie. That’s the quick description, and as I always write, hijinks ensue. In this pilot, Ralphie falls into a pocket dimension inside the deli’s dumpster and is seduced by a trash-dwelling succubus — “horny dumpster” — who lures in “white male saviors” to steal their souls. Horace has a past with this demon, one that almost ruined his relationship, but sometimes being a hero means getting hit in the penis. I absolutely loved every minute of this — it feels like a great Adult Swim show and has fully realized characters that I want to know more about. When do we get more?

Endzgiving (2025): Directed by Tina Carbone, who co-wrote the script with Patrick T. Dorsey, this is the tale of friends getting together after the end of the world. Will even brought a pie, but forgot to tell everyone that he was bitten by a zombie on the way over. He has around six minutes before he becomes one himself, but he’d like to spend one more meal with his best buddies and get some quiet before he wants to eat them. This is a cute idea, has a great cast and is well-made. It flies by and remains entertaining throughout!

A Divine Comedy: What the Hell (2025): When even Dante’s classic Hell is falling to pieces, what are we to do? Well, if you’re a harpy named Charlotte, you leave this plane behind and try to get to Earth. But there’s still the matter of her stalker ex Asterion, who keeps bothering her and wants to know what she did with the egg they made together. I loved this — it has the animation style of a Fleischer Studios cartoon at times and has some wonderful music. A joyous effort and what a wonderful lead!

Randy as Himself (2025): A Hollywood production crew comes to West Texas to recreate the murder of a local woman. Using locals to reenact the crime means that old emotions are brought back. Directed and written by Margaret Miller, this proves that even during a blood-soaked reenactment, you can find true love. This film has such a unique look and while its fully contained, it would really make a great full-length that could go deeper into how the media reports on small towns, reducing their trauma into content that plays all night on Pluto channels.

A Forest (2024): The second Isabel Nola movie I watched at CFF — I Dreamt of Being an Actress is the other — this is about a couple taking part in the hunt for a cryptid. There’s also an alien baby, documentary-style footage to introduce it and great sound design throughout. Nola did so much of the work on this and from everything I’ve seen at CFF, I’m going to have to start hunting down more of her work.

Beast of the Northwoods (2025): In a rural northern community, a monster — well, a beast — born of radioactive fallout has developed a taste for human flesh. After the discovery of multiple victims, Sheriff Bob Jenson calls in young game warden Joe Miller to help identify — and stop — the creature responsible. With the help of local guide Elaine Skogland — Ms. Elaine Skogland — they go into the woods, ready to stop the monster. Directed by Harrison Reeder and written by Laura Berg, this gets the look and feel of 1950s science fiction right. And yes — that’s Mystery Science Theater‘s Trace Beaulieu, who was Dr. Clayton Forrester and Crow T. Robot.

Empty Jars (2024): After the last two shorts I watched, this brought back the love I have for film. Director Guillermo Ribbeck Sepúlveda has crafted a fantasy world where a woman (Ana Burgos) deals with the loud guests at her hostel by freeing a ghost from a jar, a spirit that, well, fills her with something else, giving her an experience that she hopes to replicate again and again. Yet, as this movie shares with us, the dead are even less trustworthy than the living. What a gorgeous looking and feeling short. I can’t wait to see what else Sepúlveda can do!

Pumpkin Guts (2024): Directed and written by Bryan M. Ferguson, this leans in hard to the John Carpenter influence in looks, feel, story and music. There’s a Pumpkin Pitcher who destroys your pumpkin and then curses your life. This has such a strong feel to it, as it even has the giant phone that yes, I can assure younger readers that we really had and used at one point in the past. Plus, this has more than just pumpkin guts, it has some real ones, too. I guess there’s a Haddonfield, even in England.

Krakens Maw (2024): A stubborn young metal musician named Taylor (Rose McAvoy) has been struggling to meet her mentor, Theodore McKinnis (Andrew Carl), a man who recorded what she believes to be the heaviest album ever. After trying as hard as she can to get through to him, he agrees to let her be part of his next project. It’s not what she thought, though. He’s found Atlantis and is ready to battle Nazis and Satanist ninjas to get there. Is she ready to board his ship, the Black Mary, or does she just want to be a metal star? Is rock and roll dead? This was great — what a speech about the adventure to Atlantis!

Manny Wolfe (2024): Directed by Trevor Neuhoff, who wrote it with Sean Kennedy Moore, this movie hits on so many things that I love. Manny Wolfe is trying to get into Hollywood, but as a werewolf, he’s already typecast. He wants more and yet even the biggest projects just have him howling at the moon, something that real werewolves refuse to do. I want this to be a full movie so badly; I love the idea that Manny wants to be in a regular movie and for no one to wonder why a lycanthrope randomly shows up. This may have been one of my favorite films of CFF.

The Confection (2025):Two friends — Lisa (Simone Norman) and Chuck (Alex Ptak) — are just goofing off when a freak accident kills him. Lisa is unable to process what has just happened, but maybe his ghost can help. I love the tagline for this: “What if your friend died in the stupidest way possible?” Director and writer Christopher Jason Bell has put together one strange story here. After all, how many people die by radio waves that send them crashing face-first into a cake? Also: This has some incredible camera work near the end as the woods around the house seemingly are alive and start to envelope Lisa in a Bava-lit nightmare.

The Key Club (2024): Val seems to be hitting it off with Chad on their first date. You may find him cringe, but that’s the whole point. She gets him back home — Fireball roofie — and that’s when the dating torture begins. Directed by Lee Boxleitner and Sam Boxleitner and written by Lee Boxleitner and star Vanessa Branda, this is one of the first movies where I’ve seen a drill torturing someone be followed up with a tampon.

The Vanity (2025): “In the near future, a young couple makes their living as influencers for a new social media platform: THE VANITY.” That’s all there is to do once AI takes your job, I guess. Trust me, I worry enough about this, as I write hundreds of words every day for a dwindling audience of people who no longer care about words. Directed by Megan Rosati and written by Evan Watkins, this has its leads being forced to choose between creating content or one another. How many streams a day can these guys do in a day, anyway?

You Wake to Find Yourself Alone in the Woods (2024): Directed and written by Brad McHargue, this has a hiker lost in the woods with only an omniscient narrator for company. Oh yes — there’s also a slasher villain. You know how they love those woods. There are also bears and mountain lions and moose. Just a moose. “Are they dangerous?” asks the man. “Maybe,” responds the voice. Also: If I had a voice narrating at me while I tried to pee, I’d pee my pants. Also also: The bad guy has a mask that looks a lot like Kane. What a fun concept and film! I loved it!

Sick Day (2024): A burnt out assistant has the perfect plan to get sent home for being sick. Then, a swarm of locusts invades Los Angeles. Directed and written by Hughes Ransom, this doesn’t just look good. It sounds amazing with a really strong soundtrack. The budget for this had to be crazy as it looks like a big budget movie. Also: Billy Jr. is the kind of boss I’ve worked for in marketing for years and man, this was triggering. But that’s OK! This was fun!

You can watch this and many other films at CFF by buying a pass on their website. Over the next few days, I’ll be posting reviews and articles and updating my Letterboxd list of watched films.