Toronto – When I last attended WSFF, the Midnight Mania was one of the best collection in the festival, not only because it’s consistent, but also because it is simply more interesting than the regular dramatic examination of human experience that can be much better performed in a longer form like a feature film. Short films are usually simple but brilliant ideas – and seeing how people get from cheery to frightened in a jiffy, short film is almost the perfect medium for scares. Unless you’re looking for sustained dread… in which case I would say just get up from that theater chair and live your life. Honorable mention this night was Jack – a simple Revenge-of-the-pumpkins. Three others that I would recommend:
A shadowy and onerous staircase, and a little girl with her hands over her eyes. This short has the atmosphere going for it from the get go. There’s a demon prowling in that stairwell; everyone knows, but no one can do a thing. Fast forward 30 years, and on this fateful day woman feels the need to check on her shut-in parents. She found them barely surviving, sickly and running very low on food. She goes back into the stairwell to face the demon – and well, if she succeeded this would not have been creepy/scary. The acting and writing are both spot on, and I liked the clever use of recursive, comforting words from the elderly mother. Worth keeping your eyes open.
The twin sisters of probably 60 yrs lives in a small apartment. One (for the sake of argument let’s say it’s Attie) is a quadriplegic. Even though Chloe doesn’t seem to mind the daily dreadry of sustaining her sister, the audience can feel a tension in the air. Something is about to burst. And so it does. One night Attie lies in the bed and makes a hallow steam-whistle noise – I’m not joking, it sounds so unnatural that it is the only part of the short that I was uncomfortable about. So it turns out that Attie needs to kill people – she’s telepathic. After one last murder, Attie ends her own life. This one is a little harsh, heavy-handed, and – as the director said in the Q&A – meant to be moral.
Speed dating gone horrific. Someone who looks like Freddy shows up in a tuxedo for speed dating – he’s sharply dressed, sensitive, and well-articulated. But he still gets rejected by 9 women – then he meets Sarah, who’s just as disfigured. Finding love and attraction in the common “suffering”, they head back to his place for dinner. Ready for the punch line? He brings home dinner (ie. he eats her). Guess you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
I guess I won’t be able to catch Freaky – but there’s always next year!
