Horror Shorts 2010

Whorticulture.com reviews the Horror Shorts (A and B) from the International Horror and Sci Fi Film Festival 2010

The shorts are the best thing about the festival!  Please try to check them out if they appeal to you - these film makers need love, too!

Rise of the Appliances

Directed by Richard Holmes
"After every domestic appliance in the world starts to eat their owners, the Thomas family realizes that perhaps it was a stroke of luck that all their worldly goods were re-possessed by the credit card companies the day before."
Female grade: A
Male grade: A
Hilarious and fun!

Nice Guys Finish Dead

Directed by Peter Binswanger
"A slasher villain meets the girl of his dreams, but struggles to get her to fall in love with him."
Female grade: A
Male grade: A
Such a great, fresh take on your regular slasher flick.  Filled with comedy and lots of heart.

MutandLand

Directed by Phil Tippett
"As the sun goes down on MutandLand, the creatures roaming this world are on the ultimate search for food.  But all is not what it seems in this thriller where danger lurks around every corner."
Female grade: C
Male grade: A
Very dark animated short.

Abra Cadaver *
Directed by Jay McBeth
"A streetwise hooker teaches a failed magician the difference between illusion and reality."
Female grade: B
Male grade: C
The magician is creepy and believable, and the story was decent, but that's about it.

The Zombie Monologues

Directed by Andrew Lane
"A journalist and his camera man sneak into the exclusion zone in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.  They meet a vegetarian zombie who gives them an insight into her world.  But how close is too close?"
Female grade: C
Male grade: C
Droned on and on with a lecture about zombie behavior that could have been funny, but missed the mark.  The ending was pretty good, though.  Frankly, it was "balls, balls, balls, balls, balls."

Recollection

Directed by Federico D'Alessandro
"After awakening in a freshly dug grave, a man with no name and no memories struggles to escape a nightmarish lair while trying to understand who he is and why he's being hunted."
Female grade: C
Male grade: C
Easily predictable, but decent in gore.

The Furred Man **
Directed by Paul Williams
"Max Naughton sits in an interrogation room sporting a black eye, a bruised cheek and dressed in a furry costume which is caked in dried blood.  He will explain..."
Female grade: A
Male grade: A
Really good story, hilarious gore. 

Beep

Click here to watch it on YouTube.
Directed by Nicholas Militello
"A weary traveler checks into a luxurious hotel hoping to get a much needed good night's rest.  When a mysterious sound wakes him up in the middle of the night, his frustration forces him to investigate."
Female grade: B
Male grade: C
Decent, but spent too much of it's short time not getting to the point.

Alice Jacobs is Dead

Click here to see the trailer on YouTube
Directed by Alex Horwitz
"A scientist races to find the cure to a horrific virus before it turns his wife into something monstrous."
Female grade: A+
Male grade: A+
Easily the best horror short at the festival, starring Adrienne Barbeau and John La Zar (Z Man!!).  So much depth and heart.  Simply brilliant.

DemiUrge Emesis

Directed by Aurelio Voltaire
"A mummified cat is tormented by the skeletons of past meals.  Narrated by Danny Elfman."
Female grade: B
Male grade: D
We wanted to like this one more than we did.  Our male is a big fan of Voltaire.  It just seemed so pompous, and not terribly interesting.  Probably better in another setting.

The Midge

Directed by Rory Lowe
"A sexually inexperienced country boy is taken off to the woods by the girl of his dreams and his nightmares.  But it's not her he should be scared of."
Female grade: B
Male grade: C
So there's sex, and the story is pretty good, but it still falls short.

Cupcake: A Zombie Lesbian Musical

Click here to watch the trailer on YouTube.
Check out their website.
"A melodic massacre featuring a young love struck lesbian couple, two bigoted old ladies, a postman delivering death and a chorus line of fabulous feathered flesh eating zombies."
Female grade: A
Male grade: A
It doesn't hide its message, but isn't preachy about it.  Fantastic musical scores ("My girlfriend ate my pussy") ("No penis between us") and great comedy - easily the most remembered from the Festival.

The Familiar

Click here to check out the trailer on YouTube.
Directed by Kody Zimmerman
"Sam Matheson has accepted a very odd job: be the personal caretaker  of an immortal, amoral, bloodsucking vampire."
Female grade: C
Male grade: B
Thankfully there were no Twilight jokes in this short.  If you watched the trailers, you saw the best parts.

* Award winner - best student horror short
** Award winner - best horror short