Director and writer JT Mollner — working with producer and cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi, who shot this in 35mm — has created a twisty tale that is “one day in the twisted love life of a serial killer” yet also one that unfolds in the narrative technique that Tarantino used in Pulp Fiction. Read that as time doesn’t matter and expectations are continually dashed.
Told in six out of order chapters and an epilogue, this is the cat and mouse survival battle between The Demon (Kyle Gallner) and The Lady (Willa Fitzgerald), as well as the people pulled into their storyline, often at the cost of their lives, such as Genevieve (Barbara Hershey) and Frederick (Ed Begley Jr.).
An opening text explains that — just like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre — that we’re about to see a real story. Except just like that film, this sets us up for a true crime experience that isn’t. There’s even Jason Patric’s voice narrating a true crime story later in the film. The truth in every frame of this movie, every single moment in fact, is subjective and ever-changing.
It even knows when to slow down, as the leads discuss a sexual encounter before it happens. The Lady says, “Do you have any idea the kind of risks a woman like me takes every time she decides to have a little bit of fun?” She declares that women love casual sex just as much as men. The difference is, they don’t die more often when they have it.
While I’d love to tell you more, I want you to go into this as cold as I did. Just let me tell you, it combines giallo style lighting, as well as the forms embrace of kink and ambiguous motivations. Some may be put off by the fact that it narratively takes such wild jumps, almost feeling like a totally different film from moment to moment. Yet that’s the joy of this, a movie that is going to win over audiences if they give it just 15 minutes.
It’s as close to perfect cinema as I’ve seen this year with Fitzgerald making the kind of star turn that young actresses often only dream about.
This movie feels like it’s several films all colliding at once, so I feel like I should review it in the same way, taking the many times that I’ve seen parts of it and what I thought as it’s grown into a much larger film.
Blood of the Dinosaurs: Once, we went to a Mystery Spot and after we walked toward the center of the room, it kept pushing us into the walls and I was young and trying to hold my mother’s hand and it made me cry. Then, we all got on a train and it went through a forest and animatronic dinosaurs appeared and the driver told us to reach under our chairs for guns to kill the rampaging lizards and I yelled and ran up and down the length of the train begging for people to stop and that we needed to study the dinosaurs and not kill them. This was not a dream.
Another story. I was obsessed with dinosaurs and planned on studying them, combining my love of stories of dragons like the Lamprey Worm with real zoology, but then nine-year-old me learned that they were all dead and I had to face mortality at a very young age which meant I laid in bed and contemplated eternity all night and screamed and cried so much I puked. This is also a true story.
The Blood of DInosaurs has Uncle Bobbo (Vincent Stalba) and his assistant Purity (Stella Creel) explain how we got the oil in our cars that choke the planet but first, rubber dinosaurs being bombarded by fireworks and if you think the movie gets boring from here, you’re so wrong.
Can The Beverly Hillbillies become ecstatic religion? Should kids have sex education? Would the children like to learn about body horror and giallo? Is there a show within a show within an interview and which reality is real and why are none of them and all of them both the answer? Did a woman just give birth to the Antichrist on a PBS kids show?
When I read that he was influenced by the Unarius Cult, my brain climbs out of my nose and dances around before I slowly strain to open my mouth and beg for it to come back inside where it’s wet and safe.
The Wheel of Heaven (preview, watched in 2022): Badon describes this project as one in which Purity (Kali Russell) is dealing with her car breaks down on a dark empty street in the middle of the night when she has a chance encounter with a mysterious party host (Jeff Pearson) and his strange guests, which leaves her with an existential dilemma: break free of her meaningless existence or simply just succumb to it’s meaninglessness.It’s also his love letter to not only the classic Choose Your Own Adventure novels of the 80’s, but also Starcrash, The Color of Pomegranates, The Twilight Zone and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
You got me again, Joe.
Purity may also be Marge Corn and she may be locked in starship battles with Doctor Universe or maybe she’s just talking to ger grandmother or perhaps she’s being chased through a horror movie by her evil twin dressed like Santa. Or is it all a movie? Because there’s Joe, directing Marge as she sits on the set of a science fiction movie.
If you’re not paying attention, this is not the movie for you.
While this is just the first part of this four part miniseries, I’m already along for the ride. This is beyond well made and is strange not for the sake of it and without some bigger plan, but feels like being taken on a ride with no idea where you’re going to end up or even who you’re going to be when you get there. It may not be the journey everyone is ready to take, but I say unbuckle that seatbelt and get weird.
And now…
Purity (Kali Russell) who finds The Wheel of Heaven in a second hand shop and finds herself part of the stories, or is she also becoming pulled into a public access channel? Or is this a mixtape and we get to hear about it directly from its creator?
Is this Star Trek? Is this Twilight Zone? Is Purity also Marge? Is Marge Purity? Who is real? Are the characters really watching me?
Leave it to the IMDB trivia section to sum it all up. “It’s a feature film that has a mini-series inside of it. And that mini-series is inside of a fake public access channel complete with credits and fake commercials between each chapter. All the while, the audience is also watching the behind-the-scenes footage on the making of the film.”
I wouldn’t be more surprised by Badon’s films if he showed up with a camera right now in my house.
Our festival has grown in ways we never anticipated over the last eleven years and has been blessed with honors from The 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World to our recent (and surreal AF) write-up in Money Magazine. But no matter how much we grow or how far we go, we’ll always make a place in our lineup for a selection of some of the best local and upcoming talent that’s crossed our desks that year. This year’s Salutes Your Shorts showcase features incredible student works and a selection of killer talent from right here in our backyard. As always, we’re grateful for the support of the TN Entertainment Commission, who’ve been working with us to present this block since the first year of our festival.
Analog Exorcism (2023): When three friends accidentally awaken a ghost that haunts a VHS tape, one of them becomes possessed. How can the others save their friend? Director Jim Shashaty, this reminds me of how I keep telling my wife that when I die, I’m going to put my spirit into my Jess Franco blu rays and if she wants to see me again, she has to watch the absolute filthiest in cinema. I think that’s romance. This was fun but also makes me wonder if my beta of House On the Edge of the Park has a spook inside it.
A Portrait of Elizabeth (2023): Grace (Mary Beth Gray, who wrote this with directed Corey Simpson) is trying to deal with her grief by painting a portrait of her dead wife. Then, as you can imagine, strange things start to happen to her as she becomes haunted. Filled with gorgeous camerawork and practical effects, this shows how horror can help us deal with complex emotions.
Big Break (2023): Director Harrison Shook said of this film, “The conceptualizing and writing process began when I was a student in film school, and the project was born out of my tumultuous relationship with it. While moved away from studying film formally, the ideas swirling around my head at the time continued to linger and become intertwined with interests in philosophy and theology. I was interested in the intersections between these disciples and how cinema can be used as a means of exploring questions larger about the self, autonomy, and choice. And, at that time, I was REALLY interested in film not only as a vehicle, but an allegory itself. So, I sought out to make a meta-narrative student film about making a student film. It was an audacious and perhaps arrogant attempt, and while I’ve certainly grown in my beliefs about film, art, and their purpose since that time, Big Break serves as a reflection of the complex state it was born out of.” This film is about Peter, a frustrated young screenwriter who has to deal with how far he has to go to make his dreams come true. Sometimes, life has a way of asking you if those passions are worth it.
Dead Presidents (2023): With no plan and packing heat, stoner brothers Mark (Galen Howard) and Chris (Blake Sheldon) decide to rob a bank for some money. Directed and written by Ryan Lilienfield, this finds two men who may have seen Point Break too many times. Yet seeing a crime spree and being in the middle of one are two different things. Lucky for them, they’re in a film handled by a true talent. This looks and feels like the kind of caper that you want to spend hours and not minutes watching. We need more weed movies this good. Actually, we just need more movies this good. I can’t wait to see what Lilienfield does next.
Descension (2023): Riddled with guilt after the death of his mother (Andrea Pister), Gonzalo (Fernando Villegas) falls into a nightmare of his own making. Directed by Valery Garcia, whose Harmoniouswas a highlight of the Salute Your Shorts block at last year’s CFF, this was produced by Ryan Lilienfield, who made the aforementioned Dead Presidents. So much of modern horror is about dealing with loss through the genre and this takes that and runs with it. Really well shot and an intriguing premise. I also really liked how this has a great poster, which contributes to the feel of the film. The total package is something so many young filmmakers miss.
Hope Chest (2023): This was one of my favorite shorts that I saw at all of CFF. It starts with a class assignment: “An oral essay on your hopes and dreams for your future.” Eve starts her speech with this phrase: “I hope the FBI agent who finds my body is predisposed to sadness.” Directed and written by Dycee Wildman and Jennifer Bonior, this takes the dark inspirations of a moody teen and writes them large into the psyche of everyone that must sit and listen to them. Just a perfect short and so much fun.
Implications of the Bootstrap Paradox on Spatiotemporal Continuity (2023): Directed and written by Shaler Keenum, this has two theoretical physicists, Rose (Catherine Richard) and Bree (Aedin Waldorf), discussing a time-travel device and changing history. It’s pretty amazing that this is such a deep and involving treatise on time paradoxes — shout out to time travel consultant Abbie Young — and also such an emotional movie, yet one made on a budget short of time and cash. While we never see time become broken, we do feel it through the performances. An intriguing film that I loved to watch. An intriguing film that I loved to watch. I’d like to watch this again knowing what I know from the end of the film, as I think I may rank it even higher.
Kino Kopf (2023): Kino Kopf is the first of its kind. A sentient humanoid VHS camera, it was given life by its artist mother (Gowri Shaiva) and shown to the world by fits greedy father (Mike Ackerman). For a short time, Kino Kopf spurs a technological revolution, but is soon forgotten and alone as new machines surpass it. Does Kino Kopf have a soul? Directed and written by Jack Cosgriff. this is as strange as that description, with wild visuals and a story with heart.
Out of Order (2023): What a gorgeous short! This parody of French new wave crime films follows a gangster through every step of his day, from the ordinary to the criminal. Directed by Catherine Mosier-Mills, this looks unlike anything else I’ve seen in some time. The director says that she based this on some of her favorite films, Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Cercle Rouge and Le Samourai; and Claude Lelouch’s La Bonne Anne and Le Voyou. I love this statement that she uses to talk about how she got here: “When starting this project, my question was: what is this extraordinary, fascinating, rare Alain Delon, Jean-Louis Trintignant, or Yves Montand-type like when he’s not “on”? Or is he always “on”? How would he fare in the rather mundane requirements of everyday life? Is he indeed a compelling person, or just adept at finding great lighting to commit crimes? Having never been a stylish gangster myself, I worked backwards from the tropes to see what might be there.” Learn more at the director’s site.
Washed Up (2023): Mike (Brendon Cobia) is about to be a father and has decided to stop being a criminal. But his friend Aaron (Christopher Dietrick) has talked him into one last job. They’ll rob a car wash, a place where no one will be, and get away with it. Except things go wrong when the handles of the bags they’ve brought break and they can’t get the money out before the cops arrive. Mike soon has to make a decision: a new life or to give up on his friend. Directed by Thomas Bayne, who wrote this short with Connor Savage, this is such a well made short and a film I have thought about several times since I watched it.
You can watch so many of the films at CFF by buying a pass on their website. I’ll be be posting reviews and articles over the next few days, as well as updating my Letterboxd list of watches.
Join CFF as we take a journey into the longer side of short cinema. One of the many joys of presenting our festival in a hybrid format is that it allows us to include so many amazing films that our time limitations during our in-person days wouldn’t allow, and it also gives us the freedom to program more short work with running times 15 minutes and above. It can be challenging for festivals to make longer short films work when space in blocks is limited, and we’re grateful that our two-volume Fun Size Epics block gives us a chance to share an exceptional group of films that pack more world-building and storytelling in their run times than some features can manage.
Spiral to the Center (2023): It feels like this movie was made just for me. Rick Danford (co-director, co-writer and musician Scott Ampleford) reviews records on his web channel. When he discovers a band he’s never heard of before called Raven’s Knowe, he soon learns that there’s an entire label of this strange music and twelve more records, as well as a history of people who have lost their minds in the search for all of this occult powered vinyl.
Ampleford created all of the music for this — which you can listen to here — saying that he “steeped myself in the music of the 1970s, listening to Prog Rock, Krautrock, New Age and beyond.” By the time the story gets to its close — with the director (Alisa Stern, who co-wrote and co-directed) of the documentary within the movie begging Rick to give up — you’ll wish this was a full-length film.
Go out of your way to find this movie. It’s incredible. If you’ve ever hunted for bands or sought out something that no one else knows, you’ll feel all of this.
Amos’ Bride (2024): Directed by Yukako Fujimori and written by Harlow Brooks, this is the story of Rebecca (Valerie Loo), a sixteen-year-old girl who wants to escape her hometown. The difference between her and nearly every other young woman is that she was born and raised in the Chosen Colony, a cult that worships the prophet Amos. She’s in love with Amos’ son, but when she’s selected to be the prophet’s latest bride, they both decide to escape. The problem? Amos has already possessed her. This looks and plays great with a folk horror vibe that demands to be revisited with a full-length film.
The Dumpster Dive (2023): Directed by Laura Asherman, who wrote it with Anca Vlasan, this has cockroach news hosts Howard Scourge and Madison Von Vermin reporting on how microplastics could have dire consequences for the human race. A mix between sketch comedy and documentary, this has experts reporting on how we got to where we are with microplastics, illustrated by puppets, animation and — yes, you knew it — live cockroaches. It’s a spoonful of sugar to get down the bitter pill that is the way that we’ve decimated the environment.
Honk (2023): Directed and written by Charles de Lauzirika, this film has Zach Galligan and Tyler Mane in it, which ups the star power. That wouldn’t matter if it didn’t tell a strong story and it totally does. Reluctant divorcee Bill (Galligan) is awakened before dawn by a mysterious car horn in his normally quiet neighborhood. He tries to find it yet starts to uncover something even more horrifying. This film — while short — gets across the power of grief and how hard it is to let go. I didn’t particularly like the ending, but when everything up until that point was of such a high quality, I didn’t dwell on it. I’d love to see how this could be expanded.
HOT SODA (2023): Outraged over the approval to double the fracking operations devastating her hometown, Meg (Tuisdi Layne) is forced by her sick father Jack (Aeron Macintyre) to serve the fracking company owners Todd and Leonard (John T. Woods and Jonathan Wiggs). Instead of letting this opportunity go, she serves them spaghetti and soda that’s been laced with drugs. Soon, the pasta has come to life and may change the future of this small town and the restaurant that has been a part of it. Directed and written by Nello DiGiandomenico, this hit home for me, literally. My small Western Pennsylvania hometown has been torn to pieces by fracking and I also grew up miles from East Palestine, OH, another small place screwed up by big business. Well made! You can learn more at the official site.
Redcoat (2023): A young, recently widowed mother-to-be named Christine (Mallory Ivy) — living in the midst of the Revolutionary War — makes a deal with the enemy to escape her abusive brother. Directed and written by Michaela Hounslow, this has such a gorgeous look and gets so much done in its twenty minute running time. I loved that this film took a time in history that hasn’t been much explored in recent film and created a female-centric story about survival and persisting in the face of male oppression. Jonathan Bouvier and Allen Harbold are quite good in this and the scenery is nearly a character in and out of itself, making this feel as if you really are part of the past.
Caller 102: A Ballad of Cyberspace (2023):When Kevin (Josh Brener) hacks his way into a radio contest, he gets hit with a power surge. That isn’t an accident. He soon discovers that everything he believes about the new cyberspace world of the future (which is today) is true. Directed and written by Turner Barrowman and Jack Goldfisher, this does so much with sound design and imagination, making your mind fill in some of the gaps where the budget can’t go. I love that this starts with trivia contest and ends with near armageddon. I’d love to see more of this world. Where else can it go? I hope that this filmmakers find out and share with us.
We Need Some Space (2023): Can an invasion from space be the metaphor for a breakup? This movie says absolutely. A young, dysfunctional couple struggles to define the future of their relationship — we need some space never seems to end up positive, does it? — all while being followed by a UAP. Directed and written by Ian Geatz and Antonio Zapiain Luna, this reminds me that the only thing more frightening than being probed is falling out of a relationship.
Dumpster Archaeology (2023): Self-proclaimed “Dumpster Archeologist” Lew Blink goes dumpster diving and finds the true stories that have been left in the trash. He alone is able to connect the dots and put together the puzzle in the refuse. To you, this is garbage. To him, this is a mystery made up of material possessions that people decided they no longer wanted. Directed by Dustie Carter, this doc makes me wonder how much of this is stalking or an invasion of privacy, but then when you spend a few moments with Lew through this film, you start to understand and love his outlook. I wonder what Lew would think of my life by looking through my trash? You can learn more about Lew on his official site.
Seraphim (2022):When Jude’s (Erin Reynolds) family is chosen to carry out a suicide bombing for the biblically-accurate angel that they are harboring in their attic and her sister Gloria (Aspen K Somers) is chosen as a modern day prophet, Jude struggles with the ramifications of what it really means to be an agent of God. Directed by Oscar Ramos and written by Joanna Fernandez, this has an angel that is just as frightening in vision as the ones in the actual Bible. This is such a strong idea and I loved every moment. It’s true horror with the idea that an instrument of God doesn’t want peace but instead commands its followers to sacrifice others.
Cotton Candy Sky (2023): Directed and written by Michael Curtis Johnson, this feels like a slice out of Southern modern gothic life. It actually feels a lot like my Western Pennsylvania hometown, a place where there’s not much to do but drink, if you’re lucky, or get into drugs if you’re not. The longer I’m away, the more I see it in a much rosier way. But that’s also because I live far away and only experience it in moments and not a lifetime. This movie hit me because of that. It feels real.
Villa Mink (2024): Directed by Darron Carswell, who wrote the script with Douglas Wells Jr., this is “at once a study of time and space, penetrating examination of distorted male identity, and visual exploration of the enduring legacies of the mythical Western frontier.” It traces Rudy Ford as he drives across the vast exteriors of the Kansas landscape, exploring the flatlands and a roadside motel, waiting to find others in dives and bring them back for a moment of some physical connection despite feeling emotionally away from the world. As Modest Mouse once said, “This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About.”
Get Me Off This Fucking Planet Quincy: A pair of land barons from 19th century Mars find themselves the brunt of a cosmic joke after the sudden suicidal Rapture of their slave workforce who has just learned that Heaven is on Earth. Shot in a way that feels like a sitcom, this short by director and writer John Yost is just plain obtuse and I mean that in a very nice way. It spends more time world building than most full length movies. But man, it’s weird for me so imagine what that entails.
CFF ended a few weeks ago and I’m still getting caught up. You can visit my Letterboxd list of watches to see what else I’ve covered.
The Family of the Vourdalak by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, written on Tolstoy a trip to France from Frankfurt where the author was attached to the Russian Embassy, has been filmed before. The most obvious adaption is “I Wurdulak” in Mario Bava’s anthology Black Sabbath. Starring Boris Karloff as the father and Mark Damon as the young nobleman, it’s a classic horror film. Less known, but still incredible, is Giorgio Ferroni’s more modern take, The Night of the Devils, the 2020 Argentina film Sangre Vurdalak and the animated Vrdlk: Family Of Vurdulak.
I’m so happy to report that director Adrien Beau has found another take on the film that makes it fresh and exciting.
Arriving on a stormy night, Marquis Jacques Antoine Saturnin d’Urfé (Kacey Mottet Klein), a noble emissary of the King of France, finds himself the last survivor of a royal group that has been attacked by a mysterious group. He has somehow found his way to a home in the woods. Belonging to Gorcha (that’s also Belew’s voice and he co-wrote this movie with Hadrien Bouvier), he is fed and kept safe by the man’s sons Jegor (Grégoire Colin), Vlad (Gabriel Pavie) and Piotr (Vassili Schneider), along with Jegor’s wife Anja (Claire Duburcq) and Gorcha’s daughter Sdenka (Ariane Labed). As for the father, he disappeared some days ago looking for revenge on a man named Alibek.
If you know the story, you know what’s next. If Gorcha never comes back, he will be killed. But if he does survive, it could be much worse. In six days, he will become a vampiric vourdalak and have no problem killing and dining on all of those that he loves.
The Marquis instantly falls for the mysterious Sdenka, a young woman who gave her heart to another traveler and now cannot be married. She refuses to discuss her family, the supernatural curse that her father may suffer, and even resists being seduced by nearly launching the powdered wigged man off a cliff, the same place she was to meet her lover and escape her doomed family. But now, that man is dead and her hopes are as well.
And then Gorcha is found, a dead thing barely able to move, demanding a feast and that their dog be shot and killed. He has become something unearthly — the puppet used for this film is astounding, feeling like something out of the art of Mike Mignola come to life — and like all vourdalaks, the blood that they want most is the blood they have created.
He does exactly that, working his way through the family, as well as pitting them against one another. he forces the Marquis and Sdenka to dance for him while revealing that he was the one who killed her lover. Then, his son Piotr, appears covered in makeup and flowers, ready to destroy his begetter before he’s shot, his blood spraying all over his sister’s face. Jegor attacks the nobleman and says that in the morning, he will be given a horse and if he ever comes back, he will be murdered.
Chained in the dungeons overnight, the nobleman must watch helplessly as the now undead Vlad kills his mother, Anja, just before Sdenka tells him that she plans to finally leap to her demise. As he rides away, he plans to return, looking for the woman he loves. He finds her back at her home and she finally seduces him, wrapping her thighs around in as she begins to drink his blood, revealing that the Marquis is between the thighs of Gorcha. He leaps to his feet, stakes the vampire, and leaves the house in flames.
He rides to find Sdenka and tells her that while his time is short, she can live. He gives his horse and a map to get to Europe, then takes her place, jumping to his death. She rides away, chewing on a shroud, just as her father once did, leaving us wondering if she will pass her curse to the noblewoman who has written that she has taken her in.
Shot in Super 16 and filled with colors unseen in movies in decades and a family that destroys each other through supernatural means, but they may have been destroyed in spirit long before. As Piotr tells the Marquis, “Love itself is a curse in these parts.” Gorcha uses that love against them, whether placing himself as their protector by hanging the head of Alibek above their door or alternating between cruelty and kindness, just like every abuser. Is the Marquis any better, a man not above bringing up his station while fretting about the malaise of the upper class?
This is above all else beautiful and eerie, with a lead vampire more alive than most human actors, a bloodsucker who even sounds terrifying, sucking at his burial cloth, hungry for those he once supposedly loved. I felt just as hungry as him, devouring every frame of this masterwork.
Join CFF as we take a journey into the longer side of short cinema. One of the many joys of presenting our festival in a hybrid format is that it allows us to include so many amazing films that our time limitations during our in-person days wouldn’t allow, and it also gives us the freedom to program more short work with running times 15 minutes and above. It can be challenging for festivals to make longer short films work when space in blocks is limited, and we’re grateful that our two-volume Fun Size Epics block gives us a chance to share an exceptional group of films that pack more world-building and storytelling in their run times than some features can manage.
Dark Mommy (2023): Based on an episode of the Please Leave podcast, this is all about Ben, the only night shift 911 operator in his small town, which mainly means that he deals with prank callers and drunks. However, this is the night that Dark Mommy has arrived and has plans for everyone in town. It all starts with a frightening phone call and gets even more intense.
Directed by Courtney Eck, who wrote this film with James Gannon, this looks stellar. My main issue was the end, as it seems like it jumps from the night of the Dark Mommy rising and then jumps right to the aftermath. It moves so quickly that I had to go back a few times as I was sure I missed something.
Madame Hattori’s Izakaya (2022): Directed and written by Shanna Fujii, this thriller is about a chef and those who are permitted to attend her very private dinners. Shot in Arizona, this film was a collaboration between restaurants, chefs, filmmakers and the Asian community. Featuring food made by chefs Nobuo Fukuda, Paulo Im, Justin Park, Kevin Rosales and Tyka Chheng and shot at Nanaya Japanese Kitchen, this also has nails from Slain Studios and was sponsored by Sapporo and Crescent Crown Distributing.
Fujii had over thirty artists all collaborating on this film and all of the info above wouldn’t mean much if it wasn’t so interesting. And it is. It answers an intriguing question: How can a chef become so well known when she has never eaten food in her life?
The Garden of Edette (2023): In this Creole Southern gothic, Edette (Gwendolyn Fuller Mukes) may be an elderly woman, but she will live forever as long she keeps luring in victims for her flesh-eating garden. Her next victim will be a young girl named Perri (Mandysa Brock), except that Edette finds herself growing closer to her, feeling a kinship. Now, she must choose between betraying her friend and dying alongside her garden. Directed by Guinevere Fey Thomas, who wrote it with Chiara Campelli and Melisande McLaughlin, this looks incredible and tells a unique story that you don’t find all that often in horror. You can learn more at the official site.
Eyes Like Yours (2023): A hospice nurse remembers her long dead mother when she sees the eyes of one of her patients. She becomes devoted to the patient and starts to use her to recreate her mother, at least in her own mind. Directed and written by Gabrielle Chapman, this has excellent acting by Penelope Grover as Dawn, Lex Helgerson as Alison, Lynnsey Lewis as Isla and Ashlee Weber as the idealized version of the mother that the film keeps returning to. So many of the films that I watched this week at CFF dealt with the loss of a parent or trying to recapture their love. Each went in their own direction and this one has an intriguing physical direction.
Volition (2023): After getting kidnapped and taken to a sex trafficking house, Emma (writer Emily James) brings together all the victims of the house, as well as past people who lives have been harmed, to create an escape plan and get revenge. Directed by Ashley George, this film’s villain Christoph (Zachary Grant) is the kind of horrible human being that you can’t wait to see get what they deserve. Good news. This is a short so you don’t have to wait long. For the budget and the running time, this pulls off tension and action well.
INKED (2023): Directed and written by Kelsey Bollig — who also made another short I enjoyed, Kickstart My Heart — INKED is about Dylan (Kaikane, Night of the Bastard), whose father has just died in prison. His friends were angry that she didn’t have a priest at the funeral, but from what she knew of him, she figured he wouldn’t want that. Instead. she honors him with a new tattoo from her friend Bruno (Chris Cortez) using his ashes. Yet that ink sears into her skin, keeping her awake at night and asleep during the day, bathing her dreams in violent red hues and letting something evil loose. The end of this comes suddenly, but I loved this short and it would make for an even better long form feature.
Floater (2023): When their abusive father (Jeffrey Nordling) dies in the bathroom, Phillip (Jacob Wysocki) and Melanie (Darcy Rose Byrnes) both deal with the loss in very different ways. While his sister and mother (Christine Elliott) do their best to deal with their grief, he preserves the last thing that he has of his father, his last bowel movement which is able to speak to him, telling him that he wants to fix things. Phillip locks himself into the bathroom and refuses to allow anyone else in. The first project by director and writer D.M. Harring, this may have some disgusting moments, but its heart understands the pain of grief.
You’ll probably never see another movie where a son builds a memorial to his father and creates a doll out of his feces. That may not sound like a strong review, but it is. This has real emotion inside every second.
Mort (2023): A mortician named Mr. Underwood (Andy Farmer) and his timid new assistant Lane (Josh Bernstein) have to stop the Lancasters, a family that nearly everyone hates and for good reason, from freaking out when their patriarch Mort (Les Lannom) becomes a zombie and walks away. From Pastor Tim (T Brown) farting in people’s faces to the way the entire family behaves, this feels like my hometown. Except for the zombies, but I did grow up next to Evans City Cemetery where Barbara had them coming to get her. Directed and written by Charlie Queen, this is a fun take on the zombie film. Mort even knows how to do the neck bite from Dawn of the Dead.
Up On the Housetop (2023): The Holloway kids — Olivia (Kayla Anderson), Dylan (Samantha Holland), Donnie (Michael Fischer) and Todd (Dakota Millett) — weren’t looking forward to the holidays after the death of their parents. They’re going to hate the season even more now because — spoiler warning — they accidentally murder Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, thinking that he’s a robber. Now, they’re going to be lucky if they survive this Silent Night with deadly reindeer demanding revenge.
Directed by Dakota Millett and Michael Fischer, who wrote it with Laura Herring, this really does have it all. By all, I mean killer reindeer POV camera, baseball bats covered with holiday lights, a Mario Bava-esque image of a roof filled with reindeer and…this really needs to be a full length film. I don’t think I can ask Santa for that.
Robbie Ain’t Right No More (2023): Sarah (Madeleine McGraw, The Black Phone) used to be close to her brother Robbie (Jadon Cal, Last of the Grads). Over dinner and dealing with the loudmouth Andy (Walker Trull), he reveals the scars all over his body from warfare. What no one can see are the scars that exist in his psyche.
Directed and written by Kyle Perritt, who served as a Marine, this soon has the family discussing what’s wrong with Robbie, from his father Vernon (Jason Davis) saying that his son isn’t right no more and his mother Peggy (Emily Deal) feels useless. As for Robbie, he tells his sister that he feels like someone else is driving him now.
This feels like Deathdream and The Guest, which are high compliments. While this short seems to tell the complete story, this has enough power to be its own full-length film. Perritt has plenty of talent and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
I did see some reviews of this that criticized the short for starting in the middle of the story and not explaining what Robbie was like before. To me, that’s what’s thrilling here. We’re thrust in the middle of the story and must figure it out just as Sarah must.
Good Girls Get Fed (2023): Rose (Kelly Lou Dennis), Daffodil (Kayla Klein) and Iris (Paula Velasquez) are trapped inside a windowless room, given silent commands that are written on a wall. If they answer these challenges, they get the food that they need to survive.
The time in captivity may feel like it’s driven them against one another, but they know that if they work together, they can escape. Yet is there something even worse waiting?
Directed by Kelly Lou Dennis, who wrote this short with Kayla Klein and Sarah Rebottaro, this finds whoever is giving the commands to often just be fixated on the male gaze. At other times, it is using what the women have the most trauma with and playing it against them. Even how they’re dressed is a man’s fantasy.
I don’t want to spoil this but the end is total nihilism. Wow.
Lost Boys Pizza (2023): On Halloween, two theater kids head off to dance. As you can tell by the title, they find vampires there. One, a turned enemy from high school distracted with a bloody tampon and then Dracula himself on the dance floor. Directed by Cassie Llanas and written by Tatjana Vujovic, this looks beautiful and would probably be a ton of fun to watch with an audience. As it was, I can only dance so much in my living room before the neighbors start to notice.
The Kindness of Strangers (2023): Stacy (Nell Nakkan) and Anna (Angela Jaymes) are out driving around on a night back home from college. A woman (Tammie Baird) seems to be in shock and they agreed to take her to a hospital. Yet there’s something horribly wrong with her that will change this night for both of them. It’ll also make you question if there is such a thing as a helpful person. Directed by Stu Silverman, who wrote this short with Kathryn Douglas, this is a mean movie that refuses to protect its characters. Well worth watching.
Vespa (2023): When Luiza comes to visit her mother Celia at her new home, something immediately seems off. Could it be V, the new caretaker, the woman who Celia now believes is her daughter? Does it upset Luiza that her mother has always been so cold to her and yet now is so loving to a stranger? Or could V be quite literally be planting seeds that will keep Luiza trapped at home forever and always under loving care that she never wanted? Directed and written by Olívia Ramos, this was an intriguing watch with gorgeous tones and visuals.
The Lonely Portrait (2023): This is a perfect short. An AirBnB guest (Andrew Weir, who wrote the script with director Marc Marashi) guest finds a blank spot on the wall that he soon fills with a strange painting. Every time he steps away, that portrait changes and begins to take things from our world. It’s a gorgeous creation, as it’s a digital painting that was motion tracked into each scene. This is filled with some incredible angles, including one inside the world of the painting. You know where it’s going each step of the way yet when it gets there, it’s so well made that you’ll want to cheer. A triumph.
Carnivora (2024): Ana (Gigi Zumbado) comes home to take care of her grandmother Yaya (Julia Vera), along with Maribel (Carmela Zumbado), who never leaves home and is her caregiver. This leads to the natural argument over Ana being a prodigal sibling or Mari being a martyr for remaining. Their mother has disappeared and no one knows what happened. And that’s because — spoiler warning — Yaya eats people whole and keeps them alive inside her. I feel this movie more than I would like to admit and director Felipe Vargas has created an amazing way to reflect what it’s like to watch a loved one disappear.
Too Slow (2023): An insecure man has fallen for the oldest trick in the book: up high, down low, too slow. This sends him off the deep end, obsessed with getting an apology. Instead, he gets fooled again with the stain on your shirt scam. That’s too much. Now, he loses everything he had and starts becoming the man he hates, buying a Tesla, wearing a wool suit and acting like a complete cryptobro. Everything comes to a head at a birthday party and blood will be spilled. Danielle McRae Spisso and Stephen Vanderpool have crafted something amazing here, a story that we may have all lived yet in a place that goes further than we expect.
You can watch so many of the films at CFF by buying a pass on their website. I’ll be be posting reviews and articles over the next few days, as well as updating my Letterboxd list of watches.
Mr. McDaniel (Paul Lazar, Silence of the Lambs) is a retired teacher obsessed with a game all the social media kids are playing called Sweet Relief. They all name someone who they dislike and people vote on whether or not a murder would be justified. If it is, they must complete the murder. If they back out, they’re killed.
The game starts to infect a small town. Nathan (Adam Michael Kozak) moves away from home and cohabitates with Jess (Alisa Leigh). This causes his young sister Hannah (Lucie Rosenfeld) to be trapped with their strange mother who constantly watches McDaniel online. Hannah and her mother think that Nathan has betrayed their family and if they have to play the game to get him back, they’re in.
There’s also a child killer turned drug deal and now police informant reformed Gerald (B.R. Yeager) who is obsessed with the fact that he’s kind of a cop. He’s also still a murderer and when Jess catches him, all of these stories meet in a bloody and nihilistic finale.
Directed and written by Nick Verdi, this has a pace outside of what you see out of Hollywood. There are moments that just wait and wait for you. The characters all feel authentic and even when they’re locked into their own odd thought patterns, you never lose sight of the fact that they could be real.
It’s not perfect yet it’s rough edges are what make it interesting. The kids — and the adults and the senior citizens and everyone in town — are not alright. You can’t stop watching.
You can watch this and so many of the films at CFF by buying a pass on their website. I’ll be posting reviews and articles over the next few days, as well as updating my Letterboxd list of watches.
De UFO’s van Soesterberg is directed by Bram Roza and just like the title says, it’s about the night of February 3, 1979. In the air above Soesterberg Air Base in the Netherlands, a giant black UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) hovered overhead and was seen by twelve people. All of them were military officers and their stories were all the same.
Roza runs UFO Meldpunt Nederland, a site that tracks UAP sightings in the Netherlands. Yet he never allows this film to turn into the breathless kind of narrative of a show like Ancient Aliens. Everyone from witness to critic is given plenty of time to share their story. It’s all illustrated with gorgeous artwork and it just feels well beyond what I’ve come to expect from paranormal documentaries. This also has a wonderful score by Mike Redman.
The director also made the movie Xingadix Lives! which is about De Johnsons, a 1992 Dutch horror film thriller directed by Rudolf van den Berg.
So many of these witnesses have been embarrassed and afraid to appear in interviews. I’m so pleased that this film so effortlessly and perfectly tells their stories. Even if you’re not into UFO stories, you may find something to enjoy in this.
You can watch this and so many of the films at CFF by buying a pass on their website. I’ll be posting reviews and articles over the next few days, as well as updating my Letterboxd list of watches.
“What is a juggalo? A Hulkamaniac. He powerbombs motherfuckers into thumbtacks. People like him ’til they find out he’s unstable He Sabu’d your momma through a coffee table.”
Trey (Jon Oswald) has just got of a year in jail and even there, he’s liked by the guards. He seems like a genuine person. He went there because of Silas (Scott Turner Schofield). He once promised Silas’ dying brother that he’d protect him no matter what. And Silas is alright, caring for Meemaw in her coma that she probably won’t ever wake up from. To celebrate Trey being free, they decide to go to the place all juggalos go to celebrate their love of the Insane Clown Posse, The Gathering of the Juggalos.
Then, they take the wrong turn on an off ramp and end up spilling a milkshake on an important man named Gavin (Reed Diamond). Gavin is the sheriff who runs the town and he soon sends his officers after them. Things get tense, Trey can’t go back inside and Silas ends up attacking an officer and dosing him with LSD.
The plan to get to the Gathering and rap on stage? It might not happen so easily.
The only person that they know around here is Scarecrow (Jared Bankens), a person so horrible that he was kicked out of a past Gathering and is no longer permitted to be a juggalo. He lives in a trailer that he inherited from his grandmother after she was devoured by wild dogs and forces his sister Eden (Ashley Smith) to pump breast milk that he can drink and to participate in necromantic rituals that will connect them to her dead child.
Director Nathan Tape, who wrote this with Tim Cairo and Clayton Nepveux, is able to find joy and true love in this movie. It never talks down to or makes fun of juggalos for their life choices. Instead, it affirms many of them. It’s also not afraid to go full on wild, as there are some moments in this movie that even shocked me. It’s also gorgeous in the way that it’s filmed.
I never would have thought that this would have me laugh with, instead of at. Even if you don’t understand the love of Faygo or know what a Dark Carnival is, you will afterward and walk away with a much more full understanding of why this group feels such a bond. There’s not really any rock and roll to be a burn out about any more and if I were in high school today, I’d probably at least know a few juggalos.
I mean, sure, they wear face paint and are obsessed with pro wrestling — I have done both of those things — but Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope can also write hopeful things, like:
“If magic is all we’ve ever know Then it’s easy to miss what really goes on But I’ve seen miracles in every way And I see miracles every day.”
This movie lives up to that song.
You can watch this and so many of the films at CFF by buying a pass on their website. I’ll be posting reviews and articles over the next few days, as well as updating my Letterboxd list of watches.
Are you looking to achieve higher states of consciousness using nothing but the raw ass power of cinema? Would your friends or family describe you as “the weird one?” We want you to know that we’re here for you. We’ve carefully constructed our WTF (Watch These Films?) and BRIDE OF WTF short film blocks with weirdos JUST LIKE YOU in mind. Our yearly salute to the stranger side of short cinema is in fine form this year, with a slate of shorts positively guaranteed to make mush of your mind, which feels REAL cool. WE KNOW. We’ve seen them. Also, we aren’t telling you to go out and hot box your car before you watch these films, but we also aren’t telling you to NOT hot box your car before you watch these films!
Krampuss (2023): Known as Þið kannist við… (You Know…) in its native Iceland, this Guðni Líndal Benediktsson directed (with a script co-written with Ævar Þór Benediktsson) has a holiday tradition I’ve never heard of before. The Yule Cat, which eats people who don’t get clothes as Christmas gifts.
I’m amazed because this is a real thing. Jólakötturinn is “a huge and vicious cat from Icelandic Christmas folklore that is said to lurk in the snowy countryside during the Christmas season and eat people who do not receive new clothing before Christmas Eve.”
The Yule Cat was often used by landowners as a threat to their field workers to finish collecting wool before autumn was over. Those who didn’t work hard enough were made to fear this holiday beast.
This short looks gorgeous and has a really great effect for the cat. When else will you see a horrifying Christmas kitten?
A.A. (2024): Directed by Auden Bui, this has a very simple idea: There’s more to A.A. than alcoholics anonymous. Bui has some great talent in this — Anna Akana, Malcolm Barrett, Ryan Decker, Sage Porter, Brandon Potter, Bobby Reed and Uttera Singh — who lean way hard into their roles. Can you imagine going out for an open casting call and getting the role of “Member of Asseaters Anonymous” much less have to say dialogue like, “There I am with four dingleberries in my face?” Acting is a rough business. That said, this is a short worth being proud of, a basic story told well and even a little twist at the end.
Disciple (2024): Made as a student film while director and writer Boston Enderle was at Western Kentucky University, this is a bold and well-made film about Isaac (Coltyn Parks), an abused preacher’s (Greg Brandenburg) son. When he doesn’t pay enough attention to his father’s teachings, he’s forced to pray while slicing stigmata — the wounds of Christ — into his hands. Then, he has a meeting with the Verdant God (Trinity Graves), an ancient being, and finds that he can finally escape the brutality that he and his family have lived with for their entire lives. A truly interesting idea that is treated with the care that it deserves, I’d love to see a longer and deeper take on this.
A Visual Poem (2024): Directed by Benjamin Walant with original music by William Walant, this short is described as “surreal environments take center stage in this visual odyssey.” Benjamin works as a digital matte painter and concept artist in the VFX industry. He says, “As a professional digital matte painter (DMP artist), I wanted to harness my extensive VFX experience to push what can be done with this age-old technique; transforming what is usually the backdrop to center stage.”
I would compare this to Koyaanisqatsi, which is meant as a big compliment. I really felt the energy in this and was soothed, challenged and inspired by it.
All Is Lost (2024): Todo está perdido is the tale of the Pérez family. They may seem normal, but so much of this short is about them fertilizing an egg that the laid of the house has just laid. Directed by Carla Pereira Docampo and Juan Fran Jacinto, who wrote the script with Paco Alcázar, this looks like nothing else, a puppet-style presentation with artwork that as much retro as it is unfamiliar. The colors are so gorgeous and vivid as well. I can’t even imagine how long this took to make, because it feels so meticulous. Yet it is open and airy, filled with a light comedy touch. This is something else.
Catacombs (2024): I love the slasher Prison. More horror movies should be set in correctional facilities and Catacombs is a strong entry in this unexplored genre. As a thunderstorm is just outside the walls, a guard has to go deep into the sections of the old jailhouse, confronting the horrors that wait within. Director and writer Chad Cunningham really needs to expand this into a feature, as I’d love to see what he can do with a bigger budget and more time. Mike (Kenneth Trujillo) is faced with more than he ever expected and — again — I’d love to see how this buried part of this correctional facility affects the rest of the prison.
Burn Out (2024): Director and writer Russell Goldman says of this short, “Burn Out is a gonzo, high-octane horror story inspired by my post-concussive syndrome and all-consuming bosses. This short is about how we push ourselves in breakneck work environments and make disastrous compromises with our bodies and minds. Nothing is scarier (or more absurd) than what we can do to ourselves.”
Again, as in all the best shorts, it’s a simple tale told well. Virgil (Everett Osborne), an assistant, will do anything to get his presentation in front of Gower (Tommie Earl Jenkins), the big boss. In fact, he’ll even set himself on fire.
Produced by Jamie Lee Curtis and Film Independent, this has incredible effects and captures the way that I felt in my years of working in advertising when I was allowed to approach a boss and genuflect before their brilliance as they would take a moment to give me their great secrets. I learned nothing. But this movie brought that all back.
Adding another layer to the corporate madness in this, it was shot in the abandoned Quibi offices.
Don’t You Dare Film Me Now (2023): Director and writer Cade Featherstone is a British filmmaker and award-winning designer who worked as a graphic artist for films such as The Favourite and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Now getting an MFA in narrative filmmaking at NYU, he’s made this short, which is advanced beyond his years.
A drone finds an elderly woman who is, at the start, angry that the machine is invading her privacy. By the end, they have strangely bonded, both close to the end of their charge, as it were. This made me sit back and take notice.
Fck’n Nuts (2023): Sandy (Maddie Nichols) may be 19, but she’s still a child. She still lives at home with her parents (William E. Harris and Michele Rossi) and every man she introduces them to leaves her. She’s in love with Dan Deakins (Vincent Stalba), who is kind and sweet and hey, he knows wine. He’s in love with her too, but that means that he has to meet the family. Things go as absolutely bad as they can, beyond embarrassment and into pus-oozing anaphylactic shock.
This movie has a look that lives up to its name. Director and writer Sam Fox has created something truly special here, a piece of art that takes what in lesser hands would be sophomoric and here aspires to masterpiece. Here I was worried meeting my far right wing in-laws for the first time. I had nothing to worry about. I mean, I’m still alive.
A must watch!
Hunky Dory (2024): The 4,320 drawings in the film were drawn by hand on index cards, colored with Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils. The entire short was made in two years of full time work and each drawing is unique with no computer animation.
The story “juxtaposes scenes of animal life with images of human existence, observing the quirky and unexpected ways in which we are similar.” The banjo music comes from Béla Fleck and his bandmates in My Bluegrass Heart. This has such a beautiful look and totally chilled me out. I’m going to save it to watch again for when things get edgy.
Ouchie (2024): Mona (La Daniella) has had a bad experience with a new lover named Grace (Sara Lynn). She can’t even feel better with the self help recordings that she uses to give herself confidence. As a side note, I use these as well and my wife always comes in to make fun of me while I’m just trying to get the ability to make it through the day.
Mona soon begins to see strange rashes on everyone, including herself. Are they real? Or is the problem inside her? Director Kyle Kuchta and writer Jeanette Wall are asking the roughest questions here, where we must try and realize that the scars that we carry aren’t as visible as the ones on display here with great FX. Instead, we all have them and must all come to understand ourselves. Such a great short!
Shadow (2024): Ahtna (Katy Wright-Mead) and her daughter Elise (Valentina Gordon as the younger child, Christy St. John as the grown up) are playing when things grow rough. The mother gives chase and her daughter slams her fingers inside a doorframe. Then, her shadow begins to chase Elise through the home, changing in shape, size and even appearance, looking like her mother sometimes and something frightening when you get closer.
There’s no dialogue to speak of, but there is a mother repeatedly banging her head into the kitchen floor, an everyday piece of fright mixed with the black and white starkness throughout. Director and writer Kamell Allaway is someone to watch.
The Crossing Over Express (2024): Hank (Luke Barnett, who directed and wrote this with Tanner Thomason) wants to speak with his mother one more time. This brings him to a white truck. In the back is Dr. Gale Gustberg (Dot-Marie Jones), who can help him get the closure he seeks.
If you were given this opportunity, what would you do? There are so many people I wish I could just have one more moment with, so I would probably find myself paying that money and wondering if I was being screwed over, just like this film’s hero. I know I say this quite often about shorts, but I’d love to see even more of this story and these characters.
Quiet! Mom’s Working! (2024): “What happens in mom’s basement, stays in mom’s basement.” Yes, why is Del (Shane Brady) strapped to a table? Why is mom (Ana Krista Johnson) threatening him with a phallic drill? Will the daughter (Jillian Shea Spaeder) stop fighting with her brother? And what will dad (Jim O’Heir) say when he gets home?
Patrick Hogan is known for his sound work (Fire Country, Cobra Kai) but this is a short that he directed and wrote. And it’s an absolute burst of fun, one filled with tough talk, angry mom faces and dildo nunchucks. You may see the ending coming, but when it’s done this well, does that matter?
You can watch so many of the films at CFF by buying a pass on their website. I’ll be be posting reviews and articles over the next few days, as well as updating my Letterboxd list of watches.
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