Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2019
Images from the Internet
The Witching Season
Compiled by Michael Ballif; directed by Michael Ballif
and James Morris
The Witching Season Films / MVD Entertainment
83 minutes, 2015 / 2019
Witching Season Films
is a Utah-based collective, apparently with Michael Ballif at its head. They
release short films into the YouTube universe, much in the way of Alter or
Screamfest. With Witching Season, however, it’s not just the numerous releases of
films that are good, but rather those put out by that collective. Gotta respect
that
This release is a
compilation of five of their films, each of high quality work. Because it is a
somewhat insular group, there are some themes that tend to run though them, but
more on that later. However, I will concede early on that the one obvious motif
is that all of them take place around or on Halloween.
The first story is
called “Killer on the Loose,” directed by Michael Ballif, which lasts for 14:57
minutes. In this tale, a woman is chased through the woods by a mysterious man
in – I kid you not – a hockey mask. It is obviously not Jason since this
guy has kind of a slim build, but he does carry one of those machetes. She runs
into a house where Night of the Living Dead (1968; the last scene of the
chase from the cemetery… I love public domain) is on the tube though no one
seems to be around. Mirroring NotLD, the woman goes up the stairs of the
secluded small house, shot with similar angles. Nice touch. There is an
interesting conclusion to this one that may come as a surprise because wisely
Ballif does not give us too much information too early. Kudos for that.
The 17:22 minute “Princess,”
directed by James Morris, takes some familiar topes and gives us a few
surprises. A woman and her young daughter have just moved into a new house.
Left behind in the basement from the previous owner is a box of stuffed animals,
including the titular Princess, a weird looking rabbit doll. Of course, the plushie
has an agenda of its own and puts the mom and the kid through their paces. It’s
nice to see a strong, young character here in the daughter, rather than merely a
scared little girl. She’s gonna be fierce. But, of course, there is a surprise
ending, as these films seem to have, that is both amusing and creepy. It’s well
done.
“Not Alone,” directed
by Morris, is a 9:25-minute delve into sci-fi horror. A man is home alone at
night and after the bright lights through the window that was used in Close
Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), something shift-changing and wicked
this way comes from “somewhere else.” While basically an alien abduction film,
it’s definitely filled with horror images, playing with shadows and
perceptions. While only a single person is in the short, it nicely builds up
tension until the final “ah-ha” moment.
At 31:34, “They Live Inside
Us” is by far the longest of the short films, directed by Ballif. The theme is
hauntings where recurrence of events plays out over and over. A writer sneaks
into a supposedly haunted house to use the energy to write a great horror
story. He has a list of “movie monsters” (tropes; including the flying
spaghetti monster, which made me laugh). As he tries different scenarios using these
stale ideas, we get to see them play out. I’m not sure if this is a commentary
on the overuse of these themes, the proliferation of sequels and remakes, or
the fact that the audience has been beaten down into not seeing anything new; the
possibility of an IT Part 3, is currently in the news, for example. For
myself, I’m a bit confused on one of the issues presented here, which I will
not delve into too deeply to ruin anything, but I’m not sure about anachronisms
(dial phone vs computer, for example), or if this is part of the replay or
someone getting caught up in it [as a side note, I write this while home sick,
so I may know the answer if I were more healthy…]. Either way, the story ends
up being satisfactory.
Last up is “Is That
You?” at 11:14 minutes and directed by Morris. I’ve seen lots of similar shorts,
and they can be great for a good jump scare. In this one, a teenage daughter is
home on Halloween night thanks to a broken foot. Her mom is quite the Halloween
buff and really into it, though she has no patience for those who come to her
door without really trying in the costume department. The daughter is cell
phone-connected to her friend (hence the title) who has no time for her now that
she’s dating a guy that makes our heroine crinkle up her face at the thought of
it. Again, playing with shadows, there is an evil in the air which comes to a [rec*]
(2007) moment.
All these films are
consistently well made and rely on what the company dubs as “nostalgia,”
meaning they present new version of old tropes. I usually don’t have a problem
with that, and the professionalism here really needs to be noted and respected.
Some of the regular
themes that crop up is running or walking at night with flashlights. For most
of the stories, except the last one, Halloween is more of a background to the
events, than the main focus. Most of these tales also have a television blaring
at some point. That being said, one of the charming things about these are
because they come from the same filming family, as it were, there is some
interesting overlaps in minor ways, mostly on television as other stories are
mentioned.
Since this is a web
series, as well as a compilation, I appreciate that there is no wrap-around
story, but the films are presented as individual tidbits. That was enjoyable,
as well.
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