Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
The Short Films of Marc Cartwright
Directed by Marc Cartwright
Glass Cabin Films
6:40 minutes; 2015
What would you do if you came home and allegedly your roommate made a mess of the apartment on Halloween, smoked your weed, and drank your drank? This is what Steve (Baker Chase Powell) is facing, getting ready (with one of the silliest, least-work costumes I’ve seen in a while; just my style… one year I taped a 6-inch “0” on my chest and went as part of a binomial system… got honorary mention, I kid you know, but I digress…) to meet his girlfriend at a holiday party. The film floats along on a bit of tension, and then there’s the jump scare. Reminds me a little of the work of David F. Sandberg, who also ventures in this arena (though I don’t think either director is feeding off the other). This reminds me also of Cartwrights 15-second film “Savor” (see below). Essentially a one-person (plus two voices) piece that is effective and fun. It’s also just the right length for what it is, to build the tension and then explode it.
Full film:
Directed by Marc Cartwright
Glass Cabin Films
12:59 minutes; 2016
Leah (Nosheen Phoenix) is in a situation many of us can understand. She loves horror films, but her boyfriend Nick (Baker Chase Powell, who also wrote this) is more into checking his Instagram and comedies. That’s all well and good until he starts living in a nightmare of doppelgangers, demons and malevolent happenings in their apartment or possible multiverses. Cartwright’s direction gets us seeing what Nick sees (and misses) is appropriately creepy, and at the same time tense. What would you do if you were suddenly trapped in a horror film, either being a horror fan or not? Would you hide under the covers or go check out the sounds? The editing here is sharp and there is also an underlying sense of humor (such as, in the middle of a crisis, wondering why your partner changed their phone password). This is an award winning short, and it’s certainly no surprise to me, as it’s taut, tense and has a self-referential nod to horror films that is spot on.
Full film:
Savor
Directed by Marc
Cartwright
Glass Cabin Films
0:15 minutes; 2016
Reviewed HERE
Directed by Marc Cartwright
Glass Cabin Films; GMG Pictures
23:43 minutes; 2019
Aiden (Baker Chase Powell), is desperate. He is hyper-shy and timid, and lives in a fantasy world of dating and wants to“make a connection,” but keeps ghosting people he meets online. His older co-worker Elaine (soap opera star Ashley Jones) is desperate. She’s lonely and tired of being treated badly by men; she has affections for Aiden, but there is the age difference. Moving across the hall from Aiden is Chelsea (Samantha Boscarino), who is also desperate, moving from place to place to escape from her past. What happens when a potential sociopath meets a woman who is living on the edge of her life? That’s the direction of the film, which has so many curves and unexpected twists to keep any thriller fan on the edge of their seat. Incredibly well made and acted, each of the characters brings to the story elements that form an eddy of tension with the viewer sitting on the edge, waiting to just drop into the abyss. Through it all, thanks to us hearing their inner thoughts and action narrations, we can feel sympathy for them even as they do things that are shocking and abhorrent. Well done.
Trailer:
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