Here are some more shorts from the Chattanooga Film Festival.

Ringworms (2022): A sinister cult looks to gain occult power through cursed worms and find the perfect host within Abbie, a young woman with commitment issues hours away from receiving a marriage proposal from the boyfriend she doesn’t even think she likes. Faye Nightingale, who plays the lead, is absolutely supercharged awesomeness; so is the direction by Will Lee. A splatter relationship movie that ends with a double blast of garbage disposal and black vomit mania, then topped by a head graphically splitting open to reveal a hand? Oh man — I loved every moment. I want more. So much more. Also: There’s a cult!

Kickstart My Heart (2022): Director and writer Kelsey Bollig survived a near-death experience to tell this story of, well, a near-death experience. Lilly (Emma Pasarow) must survive three levels of living hell to return from the near-dead which ends up looking like scenes from horror movies and Mortal Kombat, which I can totally endorse.

You have to love when someone tells an incredibly personal story and does it with fight scenes involving ninjas and demons. More people should follow the model that this film has set, but then again, this is so original and well-done, they’ll find themselves wanting in comparison.

Shallots and Garlic (2022): Directed and written by Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto, Bawang Merah Bawang Putih is about what happens when sisters Nur and Karina reunite for their grandparents’ wedding. as the family partakes in the dinner ritual of numpeng, Karina blames Nur for her allergic reaction to garlic. Their grandmother only adds to the tension as their mother tries her best to bring harmony to the table. Despite the culture that you come from, the nervousness that comes from family situations is universal. This tells that story in a way that looks gorgeous but shows how alike we all can be.

Greetings (2023): I never saw this coming and I was floored by this short. Trish is a shy cubicle dweller in an office that’s big on birthdays. She hardly knows anyone, so when she has 15 minutes to write a birthday card from the heart, she makes the wish of the card reader come true. Soon, her birthday notes are in high demand, as she has the power to give love and money to people who never saw themselves with these high commodities. But when everyone forgets her birthday and she’s mistreated by middle management, she takes her pen and a stack of kitten cards to deal out the fates that people truly deserve.

Director and writer Stephanie Bencin has delivered a knock-out short here packed with character quirks remembered throughout and the right touch of absurdist humor that makes this one that I’ll be remembering long after this festival — and several after it — is over.

The Lizard Laughed (2022): Based on the comic from Noah Van Sciver, this short was adapted and directed by Allen Cordell. It tells the tale of Harvey (Sky Elobar), a man with no true responsibilities who meets his strange son Nathan (Jared Boghosian). As they explore the Laughing Lizard rock formation, Nathagets the courage to ask his father why he abandoned their family. It’s tense and strange and wonderful, a mix of well-shot live action and some beautiful animation that creates an unexpected twenty minutes of joy.  I plan on seeking out the comic book now to see how close the filmmaker got to capturing it and if there’s any more of the story to discover. You can learn more at the official Twitter page.

Black Tea (2022): Directed and written by Laura McQuay, this invites us to watch as a lonely Victorian widow (Allyn Carrell) brews tea and casts spells, all to hope to find a long-lost love (Matthew Simmons). This looks absolutely gorgeous, like a painting come to life and feels so well-planned and art directed. From the social media for this film, I’ve seen the storyboards and am astounded by how tight they are and how almost every shot from them ended up in the finished film. Like watching a work of art painted before your eyes. I watched this more than once as I was so taken by its look, its music and its closing moment. You can learn more on the official Facebook and Twitter pages.

Farmer Ed (2022): After isolated farmer Ed (E. James Ford) makes a shocking discovery on his land, he tries to keep it a secret from his wife Birdie (Samantha Nugent). But how long can you keep a floating brain from the person you are closest to? Director and writer Azwan Badruzaman has a great eye for setting up shots and pacing, while the cast is absolutely perfect. I’d love to see this as a full-length, as I feel like there’s so much more to explore and my appetite was only briefly sated by this great effort. There are a series of quick cuts as we see the being within the bar study Birdie that are some of the best put together scenes I’ve seen in a short. Can’t wait to see more! You can learn more on the official Facebook and Twitter pages.

Picture Day (2022): Director and writer Kelly Pike has crafted this story of Casey (Oona Yaffe), a girl who must go through picture day at the school located on a military base. From battling with her mother over earrings to her father trying to make things make more sense at the dinner table, this photo session seems like a never-ending source of stress and worry. Do we ever appear as we dreamed that we would or how we wish to look in the photos that capture just a second of distortion of who we are in our heads? Picture Day is a slice of life that ends in fantasy and I for one enjoyed every moment.

Canal (2022): A woman (Suri Jackson) must cross a bridge as she walks home, but she feels the pull of staring into the water below. This pulls her through a portal into another world, a maze where she must escape what has dragged her into this new world while gathering her own understanding of it. Director Will Rahilly wrote this along with star Jackson and Anna Boskovski, Will Rahilly, Aaron Rodriguez and Giovanni Saldarriaga; the results are absolutely awe-inspiring, as there are moments that play with perspective and even the direction of the camera, tilting and changing the world around its heroine. Black and white has never felt quite so expressive as the moments I spent within this world. I am truly wowed by what I have seen.

The Five Fingers of a Dog (2022): This was probably the movie I was the most looking forward to in this collection and, sadly, the one I was most let down by. You remember how exciting Fatal Frames seemed from the description and box art? Yeah, that. A so-called “gothic neo-giallo,” which means that this takes the masked killer, the strange weapons, the POV and the kills — well, they get way too graphic, so that puts this in the slasher genre, but man, why quibble at this stage of the game — of the form and puts them on video with out of synch dialogue that feels more like being silly than emulating actual Italian to English dubs, as well as a filming style that’s somewhere in-between digital video and a filter that makes it look like degraded film, except, you know, most gialli actually look gorgeous. Nice lighting, off-kilter camera angels and weirdness for weirdness’ sake do not a good giallo make. At least Kyle Tierce’s soundtrack is lovely. I really wanted to like this film by Charlie Compton and Justin Landsman, but when you call your own movie disreputable, it’s kind of like picking your own nickname and forcing us to call you by it. And I tried, I honestly did, watching this more than twice to try and see if I was just off. I wish that I could have loved it and not feel this disappointment.

Likeness (2022): Kaitlyn (Mary Rose Branick)’s mother (Virginia Newcomb) has been missing for four months and no one seems to be working all that hard to find her. That’s why she’s created a digital AI copy of her, using all of her social media posts, to help her find out exactly where her real mother is. Director and writer David A. Flores has created a film that starts with an interesting concept that really could happen in the future and explores the emotions that surround loss and how even all the technology in the world may not be able to heal the wounds left by someone. I also found it so fascinating how Kaitlyn can speak more honestly with the representative of her mother than she could to her flesh and blood parent. The ending is really well handled, too.

When You’re Gone (2022): In the midst of heartbreak, a writer-turned-party girl (Kristin Noriega, who also directed and wrote this) learns what it means to face pain, as her issues suddenly become moot when she becomes hunted by a subterranean mother and its horrific progeny. Is what’s happening real? Or is this just how emotional agony can make you feel? Either way, this has so much goop dripping into nearly every frame of its action, as well as a heroine not afraid to get her hands dirty and her teeth bloody by fighting back against whatever these creatures are that have her trapped. The elevator to stairwell transition scenes are dizzying and I feel like this needs to be a full-length to expand on each character and learn more.

The Waiting Room or Eggs In Purgatory (2023): Maya (Lyla Stern) died young at just seventeen. Since then, she’s been sitting in Purgatory for eternity in the hopes of learning where her final place in the afterlife will be. She becomes friends with Dean (Pavel Paunov), a young man who has lived a life on Earth very close to her own. But untold millennia of waiting for what’s next has gotten to Maya, which isn’t helped when the keeper of Limbo, Eugene (Colin Heffernan), loses his list of names which may strand her in nowhere forever. This really feels like the way I used to talk in my youth, when I would try to round off infinity and spent hours pouring over song lyrics in the hope of finding something, anything of meaning in this place. Director and writer Madeline Blair captures that and commits it to this film.

Cafe Cinatriz (2022): Director Jordan Bahat has created a story that arises from the last few years of our lives. During that time, Max experienced the loss of his best friend, yet tonight at Cafe Cicatriz, he finally has the opportunity for an actual authentic human connection with Lourdes. He hopes that with time, he can show her his true self, once he builds the courage he needs and perhaps together they can create an actual relationship. But when the word comes out that masks can be removed, he knows that he can’t show her what is underneath his face covering. Because, well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?

The Spirit Became Flesh (2023): In a town in Alabama that few would know the name of, Sam (Christopher Dietrick) has come back home to see his sister Lilah (Chloe Baldwin), She is all that holds him here, as his parents are dead and he’s built a life in New York City. This place has always been religious, but Sam is shocked to learn that they now slavishly worship a creature in the woods that they believe is the Holy Spirit. Whatever it truly is, it demands ritual and sacrifice. Can Sam break the cycles of this religious world he no longer belongs in? And more importantly, should he? Director and writer Jesse Parker Aultman has created something really special here. You can learn more on the official site for the film.

The Stewards (2022): In this future-placed short by director and writer Hannah Eaton, a virtual reality conservationist named Avery keeps having the same dream, night after night, which makes her question the isolation that she lives within, the way that she lives her life and perhaps even the nature of reality itself.

The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Dangerous Visions is the horror and science fiction shorts showcase as part of the Chattanooga Film Festival. I’m super excited to check these out!

Tell Alice I Love Her (2023): Directed and written by Jamie Carreiro, this takes place years after a world-changing disaster. A woman on a critical mission through the wilderness is bitten by a zombie, which forces her to make a final choice. I really loved the editing in this and how it took the idea from the Starship Troopers book to its bloody extreme by having a machine that senses contamination and automatically severs limbs to protect its wearer. I’m hoping that there’s more to this story than just this short.

Fetal Position (2023): As pro-life troops amass outside and attempt to shut down the clinic, they have no idea that there’s a man (William Tokarsky, the killer from Too Many Cooks) inside attempting to get the alien out of his body. Directed and written by Joseph Yates, this short is just the hint for a full-length film promised in the credits. This gets wild in a hurry and has a flying insectoid alien baby that feels straight out of Night Train to Terror, which is probably the nicest thing I’ve said about a movie in weeks. I also loved the alien mom’s makeup and the UAP at the end looks pretty odd in the best of ways. I’m definitely all in for whatever comes next from Fetal Position. To learn more, visit the official Facebook and Instagram pages for Fetal Position.

Glitch (2022): While FaceTiming her daughter Emily, a mother (Heather Langenkamp, free from Freddy but perhaps not from supernatural evil if this short has anything to do with it) keeps seeing someone else on screen, as well as getting emails of her daughter sleeping and unaware that something is creeping on her. Even worse, when Emily finally sees it, the creature can only be watched on video. Directed and written by Rebecca Berrih, this has a solid crew of talent, including Charles H. Joslain  (he worked on Weird: The Al Yankovich Story) and Izzy Traub (Ender’s Game) on visual effects, Nancy Fuller (The Hunt, Cry Macho) editing and Marianne Maddalena as executive producer (she’s produced tons of films from Shocker and The People Under the Stairs to the Scream franchise). This is quick and quite effective horror.

No Overnight Parking (2023): Directed and written by Megan Swertlow (who was also part of the anthology Give Me An A), this slasher short has plenty of star power, as the woman being stalked — in the wake of leaving her husband — is Alyssa Milano and the husband is French Stewart. As she walks to her car, located deep in the bowels of a gigantic underground parking garage, she learns that she’s locked in and that she’s not the only person here. Screams soon emerge and she’s suddenly under attack by a masked and gloved killer. I really loved how no matter how much blood and gore Milano gets caked with, she’s still checking. her makeup and teeth in the car mirror. Small touches like that elevate this to more than just a short with stunt casting.

Vexed (2022): When Penelope (Rachel Amanda Bryant) hits it off with Molly (Tiffany Sutton) after they mutually have dates go wrong, you get the idea that this is a meet cute comedy. But when they get back to Penelope’s place, you start to wonder if this will be a murder mystery. Nope. Things get even stranger, if that’s possible. This feels like just one scene from something much larger, but with what we’ve been given, it’s still pretty good. This was directed by Gene Blalock (Seize the Night) and written by Bryant, who has a good ear for dialogue.

Seaborne (2021): A seaside home invasion? That’s what happens to Hannah (Dana Melanie) and her son Lucas (Joshua Weatherby) but what comes into their home is from beneath the ocean and in no way human in director and writer Dylan Ashton’s short. James Ojala’s (Death Rider In the House of Vampires, 2012) practical creature effects are the best part of this film, as is the editing by Daniel Johnson. It’s pretty wild how much this cribs from A Quiet Place and Aliens, but you know, steal from the best. It looks gorgeous and moves well, as well as having lots of suspense as it takes notes from those films. A pretty fun short and this would have been fun to see with an audience; a full length would be interesting if it deviates from the expected and the past.

Mickey Dogface (2022): Now this is how you make a short. On Halloween night, three friends — Colleen (Glori Dei Filippone), Tony (Andrea Granera) and Eddie (Jack Russell Richardson)  — listen to a cassette of a Wolfman Jack-sounding DJ that was recorded on the night that singer Mickey Dogface, once known to the locals as Rooney Mario (Rob Christie), died. As we hear Mickey speak the intro to a song, “When I was just a little boy, my mama would tell me, you’re the most beautiful of all God’s creatures. And I know so deeply in my heart that someday you’ll be a star. Just don’t pay them any mind. They don’t know what you are.” The tapes comes to a stop and Mickey’s house is up in flames as he’s burned alive by three townies who were all killed the next night.

The legend says that Mickey’s ghost still roams the woods and if you sing his song, in the ruins of his house, he’ll come for you. So the girls challenge Eddie to do exactly that while their friend Sean (Matt Weir) waits to scare him all over again, just like the taser on the hay ride.

Except that maybe the legends are true.

Directed and written by Zach Fleming, this has really great costume design by Meredith King and some fun miniatures by Sophie Porter-Hyatt. There’s so much greatness in this — the shot going around the van as it sits in the woods as the girls tell the story is perfect — that I was a little let down by the reveal inside the van. No spoilers but it could have cut before the explosion effect and just had a more subtle scare.

This feels like a short meant for more, so I am dying to get more.

The Inverts (2023): Director, writer and star Evan Jordan has put together something strange and wonderful here, a movie that feels like the kind of odd documentaries I let play all night on Tubi. Jordan also made TS-17: The Truth About V.H.S., another conspiracy-based short, and this one gets very uncomfortable and near Fulci as the chip inside its creator is within his eye, which means self-conducted surgery. Now, the opposite universe feels a lot like Fringe or Counterpart, but you know, this short is so creative that I feel like a jerk for even saying that. Actually, I didn’t say it. My invert version did and he doesn’t watch anything except blockbusters and is a jerk all the time instead of just part of the time.

Splinter (2023): There’s more world-building in this quarter of an hour than in several movies you’ll see in theaters this year. Benjamin (Brooks Firestone) has spent most of his life on an airplane that almost never lands. That’s because when his feet touch the ground, he spreads rage like a virus, a splinter onto the world, controlled only by the Vatican and his caretakers Morgan (Yetide Badaki) and Chris (Moon Bloodgood).

Then a mid-air collision forces the plane out of the sky and while in an airport, people become monsters as soon as Benjamin takes his first steps on the ground.

Directed and written by Marc Bernardin, this is a near-perfect slice of horror and speculative future fiction told beyond effectively.

Stop Dead (2023): Directed by Emily Greenwood and written by David Scullion, this a short and sweet piece of horror. Detective Samantha Hall (Sarah Soetaert) and her partner  Nick Thompson (David Ricardo-Pearce) stop Jennifer (Priya Blackburn) as she walks down a deserted road, telling them that if you stop, you die. Hall stops her with a taser and watches her die in front of her, then her partner, before whatever is in the shadows (James Swanton) emerges and forces her to walk the whole way through the credits, which was an inspired idea.

They Call It…Red Cemetery (2022): Director and writer Francisco Lacerda has seen the same Eurowesterns that I have — there’s a line that directly references Cemetery Without Crosses — and he uses it so well in this story of two men who meet in a cemetery for one last standoff. Rolando (Thomas Aske Berg) has a gun wrapped in rosary beads and Jose (Francisco Afonso Lopes) has one good eye, but they both want the treasure that so many have died for.

I have to tell you that I can make it through nearly anything in any horror movie but my real life terror is seeing someone put money in their mouth. This movie has extended scenes of a man eating silver dollars and I nearly threw up while watching it. There’s no way that it will upset you as much as it did me.

This looks and feels like the movies of the 60s that I love so much and it feels like it’s made with love.

Memento Mori (2022): In 1983, a scientist in isolation resurrects a dead colleague in director and writer Izzy Lee’s short film. And by short, like a minute or so. By the time we get to the end of the scientist (Megan Duffy) learning. that she’s brought back a specter, the film comes to a close. Ah well — always leave them wanting more, right? Seeing as how Lee made Meat Friend, I have plenty of good will for her work and look forward to her next project. If you’ve seen 13 Minutes of Horror: Sci-Fi Horror, this is part of that anthology. I feel strange even rating a number on this because it looks great and is so well-produced, even if it just comes to a big stop.

Keep Scrolling (2023): A young girl scrolls too long and ends up in starring in a haunted live stream in this family production of sorts, as it was directed and written by Luke Longmire, who plays the father. Amelia Longmire plays the young girl and Autumn Longmire is whatever that is on the other side of the internet. This has some great scares — I can only imagine how it played to a live audience — but the end feels like perhaps one beat too many. But man, that face on the other end of the phone that can see you? Horrifying.

Dead Enders (2023): Directors Fidel Ruiz-Healy and Tyler Walker, who wrote this movie with Michael Blake and Conor Murphy, have made some magic in this. Gas station clerk Maya (Skarlett Redd) has pretty much given up once all her friends go off to college. Now she works all night in a Luckee’s in a town that’s always on fire and going through earthquakes thanks to fracking. At least she gets to make fun of her manager Walt (Jeff Murdoch) and get cheap Lone Star at the end of work.

It’d be, well, kind of a pointless existence if it wasn’t for the mind-controlling parasites that the drilling has loosened onto the populace, aliens from inside the crust of our world that have already prepared a sales presentation to show you why you should just give up and give in.

Every moment of this is perfect — the neon lighting, the “Have a Luckee day” voice that greets every customer and the sleazy cops (Joseph Rene and Lilliana Winkworth) — but the best part is that the ending feels straight out of Demons.

Gnomes (2022): Joggers have no idea that they’re about to enter the world of murderous sausage making gnomes who lure them in with mysterious glowing mushrooms. This movie has shocking amounts of gore and I say that lovingly; director Ruwan Suresh Heggelman, who wrote this with Jasper ten Hoor and Richard Raaphorst, knows how to keep things moving as fast as possible. We’re here to watch gnomes eat human beings and we get it. Oh do we get it.

I don’t even want to know what kind of Smurfs movie Heggelman could make. The horror. The horror.

The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Salute Your Shorts is the student and Tennessee filmmaker showcase as part of the Chattanooga Film Festival. There are some great films here, so get ready to dig in!

Stephen King’s All That You Love Will Be Carried Away (2023): Based on the Stephen King short story, this is the tale of Alfie Zimmer, (John Ennis) a middle-aged traveling salesman, contemplating suicide in a scummy motel somewhere in the middle of Nebraska. During his lonely trips across America, he has saved graffiti that he has seen in a notebook and now regards them as friends that offer him some distraction as well as something that speaks to him. He then decides to hide the book and if he’s going to kill himself, he leaves it to fate. If the lights of a farmhouse behind the motel appear in the snow before he counts to sixty, he will write a book based on the things he’s seen written on the walls. If not, he will throw away the book and put a bullet in his mouth. Well, in the book, that’s how it ends. This has lights appearing in twenty seconds is the bet and this film gives away what happens next while King doesn’t reveal the fate of Zimmer. Directed and written by Bolen Miller, this film is a fine addition to the many Dollar Baby — King takes only a dollar for student filmmakers to make one of his stories — adaptions of this yarn.

Punch the Boss (2023): Directed by Taryn Grace and written by Matt Webb, this short sets up the eternal conflict in nearly every workplace. If you hate your job, shouldn’t you just go ahead and punch your boss in the face? Pete (Webb), Cory (Cory Davison), Les (Jay Heselschwerdt) and Doug (Chris Maloney) wonder the very same eternal question, especially when they can trace all of their life’s woes to their leader, Johnson. Can all of our problems be solved with violence? And what happens when you finally rise up with fists and you find out that perhaps you’re not quite as tough as you thought you were? There’s some fun camera work here on the way to the boss’s office that is nearly POV and the character work is quite solid for a short of this length.

Solitude (2023): Directed by Trevor Hancock, Solitude is all about a man named Brett who just wants a weekend of absolute, well, solitude. Yet the person next door won’t give him a moment’s peace, constantly pushing him further and further away from the self-care and quiet he so desperately needs. Sometimes, the only way to achieve peace is through an insane act of violence. Maybe that’s me saying that. Perhaps it’s the voices in Brett’s head. You have three minutes in this short to figure out the answer for yourself.

Don’t Look Too Far Ahead (2023): This was an utterly gorgeous short that is so different than usually what plays at fests. It tells the story of Miami native and first-generation Haitian-American college basketball athlete David Jean Baptiste. He talks about how he may not have had the same monetary advantages of his fellow players, but he knew that he had athletic gifts that could not be bought. I really enjoyed that he remember something a teacher once told him, that he was more than just a basketball player. Looking at his life online, you can see that he was on the Dean’s and Honor’s List nearly every year that he attended The University of Chattanooga and won the prestigious Blue Award from the Chancellor’s Office for campus leadership and service. This film sets up his last home game as he reflects on where he has come from and wonders what the future holds as he plays guard for the Rogaska Crystal team in Slovenia. I really liked a lot of the choices that director Nattalyee Randall made with this film and it gave me such a sense of joy and hope.

Greenhouse (2023): As a flower farmer (Morgan Sharpe, one of the film’s writers with Marah Bates, who also dances in this short) begins to grow her first crop, she finds that the critical voice in her head is paralyzing her and nearly costing her ability to enjoy the fruits of her harvest even as they are grown. Directed by Rachel Porter — who is a “fledgling flower gardener by hobby”, this is a meditation on “the daily struggle to persevere amidst self-doubt, learning to face our fears, and choosing to sit with the dark spaces within ourselves.” I really found a lot to consider and think about in this one’s short run time and will use what I have learned as I push to create more and better works. You can learn more at the film’s official site.

After Hours (2023): Directed by James Ross, this short feels like part of a much bigger project or at least I hope that’s the case. As a night shift security guard and custodian work their way through the small hours, something strange is happening. All they have on their side are the surveillance cameras and a walkie-talkie as they come nearly face to face with something unseen, something vicious and something out for their blood. Really enjoyed the sound design and how this was shot. Here’s hoping for more.

Anya (2023): Directed and written by Chris Davies, Anya hints at the potential for so much more. Something horrifying has emerged from the forest sometime in the 70s, definitely on Halloween night and most assuredly with no good will. Tava Hill is Anya, a young woman whose future is tied to this creature. Anya is just a bit under six minutes long and the opening scare record that informs us that Halloween is about death and revenge, well…that sets up something great. Nearly every moment of this is perfectly art directed, scored and lit. I can’t wait to see what Davies is up to next. Why does Anya have a diary? Who was the woman that came from the woods? And how does it all tie together? I need to know more!

Crossing Tides (2023): Directed and written by Gabriel Henk, this short is about how a recently widowed older woman copes with the loss of her husband. I’ve been thinking about this a lot, as my mother went from being in the same house as my dad for 52 years to now being alone with just two cats since his loss. How do adjust to the silence? Time passes and she starts to see her husband more and more as this film moves to its expected conclusion. That said, it’s well made and definitely brought up some thoughts and emotions.

Harmonious (2023): Two friends — played by Lainey Mackinnon and Madison Beehner — have given in to greed and decided to summon a demon (David Sircusa) in the hopes of achieving their desires. But there’s a big difference between the idea of bringing a demonic force to life and what it will demand from you when it becomes a real and actual event. Directed and written by Valery Garcia through the Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts, this also feels like it could be expanded into a feature.