By Jonathan Bilski
On one of the last nights of this year's Palm Springs International ShortFest the festival theater was buzzing with festival-goers. Filmmakers, cast & attendees filled the lobby and the hall. They were talking about their films, what they've seen and what they missed. And wondering what would come next.
What was coming up next was one of our favorites of the festival Thrills & Chills. You've got the horror films in this section and do they stand out.
We had two favorites we're gonna talk about and the quickly going over the rest.
Spoilers
"Why are you here, nothing interesting is even happening!," proclaimed the female lead from the first short, Storm. The camera follows a young woman at her home with her boyfriend being startled on a stormy night. She goes looking for someone or something trying to come in. Turns out, it's us. That's right, in this beautifully and smoothly shot short we are the intruder. We're the audience and we just won't leave this couple alone. This novel idea is taken full circle as we the audience seemingly are forcing a horror movie on these people. They try and get out of it by being as boring as possible, but we won't have it.
down by us, the audience, being the antagonist of the film.
The director wasn't in attendance, but producers were and explained the idea was "...just kind of flash in the pan, let's have fun with it." Even though they had their fun making it, the crafted it expertly.
Can't say the same for Me Over You, a short about a little boy who beats his brother's face in...and then wears it. Looking like it was shot by the same little boy to gain attention on TikTok or whatever it was just kind of empty. All I can say is that it's so violent that the boys playing the brothers in it weren't allowed to watch the final cut of the film.
Doris was a witch/folk tale horror short that went for a bit too long. Be careful who you share a room with at college. Obito also just seemed like it dragged on. An interesting premise of woman needing some money having to marry a former boss' deceased son who was after her when he was alive. Being paid off to be faithful for a dead guy for a year didn't seem worth it.
A horror comedy short that had the audience's attention and mine was Dream Creep. Wonderfully weird premise and similar to my other favorite of a couple in bed with one being woken up at night. This time it's not the audience, but the voice of a man's girlfriend coming out of her ear. Not her mouth, her ear. Asking for help and a meat thermometer many questions are raised, hilarity ensues and so does some awful stuff.
The writer and director of Dream Creep, Carlos A.F. Lopez couldn't attend, because he was busy writing another project, but producers said during the Q&A, " that the premise came about with him literally at sleep at night waking up and thinking he heard a loud crash and trying to figure out if that was something that really happened or did he dream it."
*Special Mention for Worst Nightmare: Dream Creep (USA), Directed by Carlos A.F. Lopez
It didn't win, but nice to get Worst Nightmare.
Not sure if I like horror comedy or just the couple's waking premise, but Dream Creep and Storm we're the only two films I really enjoyed that night. All the rest need some more polish, but that's what shorts are good for. Showing you what you can do as a filmmaker and maybe seeing what you can improve on.
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| Thrills & Chills cast & crew |
