Short Film Review: Them! (2018)

The great thing about the indie short movies is the fact that they are able to explore spaces that most feature-length films, especially those made in the studio system seemly cannot do. Them! is a short sci-fi comedy that definitely goes to weird places and does the same pretty fast. Here's how the film describes itself:

Them! is a sci-fi movie. A lady hears her dog yelp and it wakes her up. When she goes downstairs to see what is the matter, she is horrified to see the dog being eaten by a Roomba and they have multiplied.

The film, directed by DeNoise Studios and starring Susie Butler, cannot be easily described beyond the word �strange� at first viewing. The plot is condensed and so is the runtime of the film, which is short even for a short feature. However, aside from its overall strangeness, there are multiple threads to the piece. 

Once you get past the oddness of the acting delivery and the plot, you can see snippets of homages - from the horror and sci-fi films of the Hollywood Golden Age to the over reacting and almost parodic absurdity of the fear of technology (the dog scene is priceless in its campness). In many ways, the film works as a short and modern rendering of an Ed Wood picture and this is something we can�t see often.

Finally, there is a big sense of freedom in the film - this short movie came out just as its creators intended it to be and that�s commendable every time. After watching Them! and just how unburdened the film is, you can see why the modern cinematography would gain a lot by once more daring to be weird and goofy.

Watch the entire Them! short film right there:

5729 Them! v5 - HIGH RES 4K from Susie Butler on Vimeo.

Two Paragraph Review: Hold the Dark (2018)

The worlds of Jeremy Saulnier are dark and deadly, but ultimately, like any vampire�s castle, too alluring to miss out on. Even as the protagonist enters into the creaking halls of that place of horror, we know they�re as good as dead (or most of them, at least). In Blue Ruin, a lost man embarks on a doomed quest. In Green Room, a punk-rock band goes to a gig they should have turned down. In Hold the Dark, an expert on wolf behavior sets off to an isolated village in Alaska to find the remains of a boy taken by the same creatures.

There is nothing to find in the film, like in the previous ones, expect pitch black desperation, cruelty and an unmissable sense of nothingness. Yet, the ride itself is still what allows us to usher them on, into the twilight. Here too, the experience of the movie and the twist and turns its plot embarks upon so elegantly and completely unexpectedly, make it a worthwhile experience. It is reassuring to see that the creative universe of Saulnier is completely inoculated from the spellbound power of bigger and bigger budgets. Hold the Dark has a lot to offer even though what that thing exactly is remains lost to me.

Web Series Showcase: Fruit Bat (2018)

The famous though goes: an author has a writer's block and she/he ends it by writing something about - vampires. No one can deny that the world did not have its share of vampire fiction in almost any and every imaginable form. From crunchy kid snacks to video games, count Dracula and other like him have marked the pop culture landscape ever since Bram Stoker got us hooked on these creatures of the night.

However, few would deny that there has been somewhat of a saturation in the bloodsucking market. When this happens, the airwaves are ripe for one of the most important genres - parody. This is exactly the thing that Alex J. Murphy and Javahead Productions decided to do with his work. Here is the description of an upcoming web series of short films called Fruit Bat:

The horror comedy is an award-winning web series about a vampire with an unusual appetite. David J. Marzano stars as Eugene, a vegetarian vampire and outspoken advocate for �human-vampire relations�. His carnivorous brother Lenny, played by Peter Coleman, constantly tries to keep Eugene�s taboo diet under wraps, often causing some �bat blood� between the two. It doesn�t take long before tempers rise, guts spill, and craziness ensues.

The premise seems simple and fresh, doing a route similar to indie films like Summer of Blood. The first episode of this series was shot back in 2014, but now, the directors decided to dig it up (pun intended) and make it into a new and prolonged work. As the trailer shows, there is plenty to be hopeful about, especially because of what looks like a great script which is well-acted by everyone shown in this short teaser.

Both factors are a pleasant (and sorely lacking) appearance in any indie cinematic work, but they are especially interesting when they appear together. Finally, in spite of the vampire topic, the work seems anything but dull or unoriginal, which is already a big success for its creators.

The web series should appear online later in October 2018, but until then, check out more about Fruit Bat web series on its official Facebook page and of course, don�t forget to check out its trailer.

Short Film Review: Happened in the Present (2018)

The internet proved that entertaining and extremely low-budget movies, featuring a medium-length runtime can be made today. Just a decade or two earlier, films of this type, lasting between 20 and 40 minutes were considered an impossible venture outside of student exercises. Movies like The Defector are a perfect example that this is no longer true. Now, a new film called Happened in the Present show that this formula can be applied to a YouTube work of art and end up as something regular viewers can easily enjoy.

This film is the work of Mark Sarko, a director and hip-hop artist based in Germany that has clearly been around the entertainment industry. The plot presents a process of unorthodox investigation that begins with a body turning up in the bathtub of an apartment. From these, a duo of oddly mixed individuals starts their search for the truth behind this event, mostly using music and weird analytical capabilities.

The film is based on a multitude of characters that continuously communicate with each other, but also a music-infused tempo that is fast and snappy. This makes the film into a one-two combo of funny and quirky dialogues, followed by musical segments and editing/VFX that are sometimes a bit over the top, yet still works for the movie�s overall tone and feel.

This makes Happened in the Present a really engaging low-budget movie. Of course, it is not perfect on a few fronts - the acting is uneven and the locations look like they had been chosen mainly because they were available to the production crew.

However, in spite of its flaws, the film feels more than genuine, clearly fueled by the passion for filmmaking. This is why I have no doubt that Mark Sarko only at the beginning of his creative journey in the domain of cinema. Watch the full Happened in the Present movie right here!