Monday, October 18, 2021

Horror Shorts Reviews: October 2021

Horror Shorts Reviews for October 2021

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Filmmakers, please note: usually, I do not review films (unless requested) that appear on sites like Alter and Screamfest, because they have a known platform, which is great, while I would rather focus on films with no sponsored online affiliations.

 

Answer Your Phone
Directed by Benji Wragg
Crazy Moo Films; Taymaynari Productions
5:47 minutes, 2021
In this Australian short, a stressed young man (Oliver Midson) is on his way home with his phone getting messages from his abusive partner, Nancy (Rhiannon Newman; were her parents fans of Fleetwood Mac?), repeatedly asking where he is. However, he’s lost his car keys and rushes home the best he can. The tension is palpable, and when the payoff hits at the end, one understands the whys, if not the hows. I would like to have seen this stretched out a bit more, to get additional background to the story, but even as it is, it is effective. There is very little dialogue, and most of that is text messages. Lots of shorts seem to focus on the cell phone as a cinematic device to deliver the goods. Technology is both a life changing and yet also a trending object.
Full film HERE 



Beggar’s Night
Directed by Henrique Couto
Weekly Spooky
6:13 minutes, 2021
Alphonse (John French) is an angry farmer who sounds like he is from below the Mason-Dixon who has some issues. He needs to eat “heart friendly” (pizza without cheese? Personally, in this regard I agree with him), and he does not believe in that Satanic worshiping holiday at the end of October. You are not going to get any candy from this dude, even if he scarfs it down himself. Beggar’s Night is a regional Ohio term for going Trick or Treatin’ the nights before the 31st. But just because he does not follow local tradition, what about the spirits that do just that? Lessons to be learned and a night of scares is in store, under the monochrome blue light of night. This is shot quite lovingly with some wonderful editing skills. For such a short piece, the SFX make-up and creature designs look amazing. The timing of this release is perfectly – er – timed. Get yer Beggar’s Night/Halloween jollies on with this one.
Full film HERE  


Dead Frequency
Directed by Cindy Stenberg
Swedish Ghost Lovers
3:28 minutes, 2021
A man (John Hägglund) is living in a run-down small house that is under renovations in the middle of the woods in Sweden (where this originates). While chillaxin’, he hears a disjointed woman’s voice on a small walkie-talkie (I have a pair of those). The words coming out are full of static. They could be in Swedish, but it’s so garbled anyway, it really does not matter. This leads to some nice jump scares and a cool ending that I won’t give away. The director, Stenberg, who also appears in the film, manages to make a lot with a little time. The angles and shadows kick this up to another level. Enjoyable; just long enough to get the viewer engaged, but short enough to blast it away.
Full film HERE 

 

Parking
Directed by Abhishek Sachidanandan
3:19 minutes, 2021
There is a reason why so many films that want the viewer to feel uncomfortable, from horror to action genres, take place in lonely tiered indoor public parking garages. The light is gloomy, there is a feeling of dread, and who knows who or what is hiding behind a column or a vehicle. Mixing the place with technology, a man (Aloysius Shadi) gets into his car and starts to back up to pull out, when his car’s rear sensor beeps at him that there is something behind him, but nothing shows in the rearview mirror. The tension builds in this non-verbal scenario with the car doing all the “talking” through its sensors. Sometimes all you need is a simple idea and imagination to make an effective short story, and this one works for both.
Full film HERE 

 

Stall
Directed by Ryan Shovey
Creepy/Cool Pictures
6:59 minutes, 2018
My mother once actually said to me that the scariest thing was having to badly use the washroom when none was available. So, even though the entire film actually takes place in a public bathroom, the spirit of my mom’s comment is a focal point. A woman (Ariel Monica Putman) is in dire need of a loo, and there are two stalls: one is for handicapped, one not. The not one is occupied by an unseen and mysterious woman who apparently uses crutches. Irony? This puts our heroine in a dire situation of whether to hold it in (not a good option) or use the handicapped stall (personally, if the regular one was in use, I would enter the handicapped one in an otherwise empty bathroom without a second thought because desperate times/desperate measures…but she’s more socially conscious than I am). In this tale, however, there is a supernatural element, natch, and lights flicker, weird sounds abound, objects move on their own, and locker doors swing open. This is a nice, spooky tale and it is very well shot (without being claustrophobic considering the space) and acted. Putman uses body language quite well. While there are some really spooky moments, for me the cringiest thing was Putman kneeling on her bare knees on a public bathroom floor to peek under the stall door.
Full film HERE 

 

Unwelcome Guest
Directed by Andrew Johnson
11:50 minutes, 2020
A young man (the director and writer, Johnson) who is a photographer rents a house in the woods once owned by a State-executed serial killer. It’s a lovely, idyllic place surrounded by trees and has a lake close by, but of course that is not all that is attached. It’s a genre film, after all, right? The imposing ghost of the Lake Gillian Killer (Andrew’s dad, Eric) keeps popping up through the night doing evil things like rolling out the toilet paper. There is an almost subtle comic element to this film more than a frightful one that actually makes it a bit of fun. Johnson’s over-the-top emoting helps in that. The film comes off as a lark, meaning it looks like it was a lot of fun to shoot, and that gets expressed to the viewer. There is no dialogue but facial expressions and body language say a lot here. For me, the scariest thing about the film is just how much the central character is immersed in technology. For a country getaway, every move he makes involves some sort of electronic equipment, be it an HD TV, listening to his playlist as he sleeps, the camera plugged into a computer, and so on. For me, this was more invasive into the life of the “guy in the blue striped shirt” (as he is credited on IMDB) than the ghostie. A good, safe watch for othse who are easily scared.
Full film HERE 

 

The Visitor
Directed by Mark and Lindsey Palgy
Enjoy Cult-Classics; De4th Race Productions
6:40 minutes, 2021
An author with a writing block leaves his wife behind to take a solo weekend in the country to inspire him. You can see the affection between them. But what happens when you meet yourself in an Us (2019) kind of situation? The question presented is, simply, what is a natural response to that? And will your hairbun eat his beard? (Sorry, that’s a What’s Up Tiger Lily? reference from 1966). And what is the larger picture and meaning of it all? These are all questions that are answered in the film. It’s a nice little gimmick that works well. The ending was a pleasant surprise, as well. It is also well shot, with snippets of objects and close-ups, mostly, when needed. An interesting cinematic motif used is that the soundtrack is music, and when people talk, it is silent and we get subtitles; are people in Kentucky hard to understand? Could be the vocal track did not work well, or something else happened, and this was a smart way around it. Well, these Kentuckians know their stuff.
Full film HERE

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