Stop
Two black men and one white woman is pulled over by the cops, a simple task which makes the news on a daily basis as one of the most talked about racially tense moments in any black Americans life.
It’s quite a slow and deadly quiet drama but there’s so much power in each word, the passenger in the back of the car is so very controlling. And his part in this is questionable, there’s a tit for tat between the officer and each person in the car, until he’s satisfied that everything is okay and about to leave then a few words are uttered and…
Steven DeGennaro and co-writer Scott Weinberg unravels this tale in essentially real-time as it tracks the rising tensions during a traffic stop which does end on a pretty nasty cliffhanger.
Ironied
There is quite an unusual start to this short, in utter darkness you can tell that a group of friends are partying, but on waking up Donald begins to have the worst day ever possible until he gets into work and meets Charlie, a homeless man who has a different perspective on life for him to ponder, the two men are very different but could almost be the same person, not sure who’s had the worst day once each has had a chance to digest the others background.
A darkly comic and yet philosophical short from writer, actor, director Tyler Lionel Parr. it’s pretty deep and thought provoking, but it takes a really dramatic shift from funny bad day to wtf have I don’t with my life.
Life Begins at Rewirement
A difficult moment in anyone’s life is what will happen when mom and pops get old and need more care than we can give, retirement is a rewirement in this futuristic drama. It has some cool theories about uploading memories and people to servers, electric cars and the use of hand modules that speak sign language, all things which exist today but not in such abundance. It’s bittersweet and imaginative and raises questions about what life is really about, are we merely a history of memories?
Plurality
Someone has been up all night reading too many Philip K Dick books. In a short introduction it seems that everyone in New York City are tagged and identified by biometrics and can be tracked everywhere, this does mean that you can’t hide from the law and crime is at an all time low, basically think Minority Report. So how is it that a reporter manages to dodge the system??
It seems these messengers from the future will keep coming back to warn us that this invasion of privacy isn’t the perfect answer to all of our problems? Who’d have thunk it? The movie is a bit of a poor relation of Minority Report or any other Dick adaptation but with 90’s CGI. It’s a bold but just dated.
Do you see it too?
A couple awake in the night to find an unknown threat creeping around in the dark, the woman seems psychically aware of the creatures descent on them but she’s unaware of what the creature it is.
Filmed at night and in darkness the film plays on tense sound effects and jump scares but it pulls out all the stops for an unforgettable ending.
NSFW
A young wanna be reporter and blogger, is trying to bait peadophiles to remote locations by pretending to be a young boy, but with any video titled Scary Short Horror Film, things don’t go quite to plan. While wandering around in the snowy forest the film takes a sinister turn but when he finds hidden equipment and weapons in the woods, he’s already in too deep.
There are some amazing atmospheric shots which show a darkly sentimental side to UK homes in a montage to illustrate that any street might have a dodgy character or two living on them, but in contrast the shots in the forest are equally beautiful, the gentle snow and lighting really pops out.
For such a long short, the movie does have a massive lul in the middle while not a lot is evident but it’s a slow burner for sure and becomes pretty tense and gory when it needs to. Then the twist hits ya, something I didn’t see coming.
The Smiling Man
Often credited as one of the scariest short movies ever, I can see why it scared a lot of audiences but to be fair i’ve seen scarier but I wouldn’t want to take anything away from this creepy terror, it has its moments but the highlight is the amazing acting from the Smiling Man himself an actor known as Strange Dave who also featured in The Armoire short film and he also makes a great Joker..
But cute kid with balloons making a scary discovery in her home is an ageless scary plot and with the addition of some brilliant crazy acting it does play on the mind but is it really one of the scariest??
Next Floor
Opening credits in a short movie? I don’t think I’ve seen this before?? This short kept delivering as it proceeded through a table to rare and disgusting delicacies. plate on a plate of strange looking food is piled on a table until the table falls through to the next floor. bin the dinner continues…until they break on through to the next floor.
It’s a strange purgatory that these diners are living in, a crazed demented dinner party that drops through layers of hell, probably a metaphor for their lavish and gluttonous lifestyles, until the opening stare of the matridee (Jean Marchand) becomes the final stare it’s a brilliant creative shot movie from none other than Denis Villeneuve. is it me or does the dinner splay slightly reminiscent of the food served at the end of Salute the Jugger?
Sell Your Body
A comedy short with a bloody twist, the bills are due and this quirky failed medical student needs to get some cash and fast, she might not have finished her course but she has enough know how on how to make a quick buck and this is told in this delightful short with tons of character.
Night Delivery
A creature that follows you and becomes stronger for every bad deed that you do? Wow okay this sounds terrifying, especially for a guy who’s planning on robbing a customer and is already experiencing random paranormal activity.
This could have been a really successful little horror movie but with the addition of a bit of time travel it made the movie way more confusing than it needed to be but on the whole it’s a pretty wild ride with great acting and super effects, just the twisting timeline and story could have been presented a little better, a great effort from Scott O’Hara.
The Shaman
After watching Hangar 10, I was intrigued what the cast had been up to or were currently working on and it turned out that ??? was working with Marco Kalantari on a short movie project called the Shaman, now it’s been a while since I last looked into this project but I struggled to find the full feature but today is a lucky day for me, here it is at last.
Danny Shayler plays a much different character to the ballsy loud mouth in Hangar 10, instead he’s Joshua, a Shaman, a connection between man and machine in a violent futuristic battle, the year is 2204 and we’ve been battling machines for 73 continuous years. These mystical men use a mix of meditation, oracle cards and music to break through to machines on a psychic level to break them, but this battle isn’t going to be easy.
A lot of effort went into the pristine CG effects which stand out better than a lot of features to date but the compelling story and strong acting is what really makes this a winner.
The webpage for this project still exists here https://www.marcokalantari.com/shaman/main.htm
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