This is the third year I've visited
Shriekfest Los Angeles, the fantastic LA horror/fantasy/scifi extravaganza created and run by Denise Gossett. My favorite part of Shriekfest is the shorts program, mostly because it reminds me of a good horror anthology. A bunch of quick, exciting little bursts of energy. Always something different right around the corner.
I didn't see all the shorts on the program this year, but of the 20 I saw, here are six that deserve some extra love, ordered alphabetically.
"Cannibals and Carpet Fitters"
It's incidental that the first film here is my favorite one. "Cannibals and Carpet Fitters" is fast, funny, and a little freaky. The title says it all: two very ordinary carpet fitters visit an out-of-the-way house and find terror of the finger-chomping variety. The Edgar-Wrighty clash between monolithic evil and British workaday sorts makes for fun subversive gags. Teatime specifics interrupt a menacing bathroom scene, and one of the carpet fitters attacks a beastly cannibal with his dutiful stapler.
"Cut to Pieces"
Anthony Mezza's "Cut to Pieces" centers on a hopeful female artist whose amateur cut-out portraits earn the derision of a self-impressed gallery owner (Sam Sebastian, hamming it up with precision). But her pictures won't take "no" for an answer. While the ending might be a foregone conclusion to savvier viewers, "Cut to Pieces" nevertheless generates real tension. Especially during its climax, which features some stop-motiony... er, images that feel genuinely new and creepy.
"The Dark Walk Backward"
This is a cool, moody little chiller, but what gives it dimension is the brutal opening minutes. A man on the Western frontier must bury his daughter. Actor Brant Bumpers communicates his anguish without any words, putting nail after nail into a coffin, work interrupted with sobs and tears. Writer/director Kris Phipps wisely leaves technique to a minimum and simply focuses on the emotion. What follows puts a supernatural spin on the man's pain, but that layer complements the emotion instead of derailing it.
"Edward the Damned"
"Edward the Damned" plays like a mystery for its first half and a pitiful tragedy in its superior second half. Writer/director John Weckworth might've been concerned about playing his best card too soon, but the reveal of what's troubling his protagonist is so damn eerie - and the resultant drama so damn sad - that this is one of the few horror shorts where knowing more sooner would be a good thing. A haunting, increasingly involving tale.
"Job Interview"
This one is a tense, uniquely nasty short. German writer/director Julia Walter takes a situation that would make any viewer uncomfortable (interviewing for a job) and building on that with increasingly personal, confrontational exchanges between boss and potential employee. One of the coolest elements here is the daylit, spotless office setting. The clean, bright environment feels clinical, almost surgical, and the interrogation cuts into the heroine like a scalpel.
"Mack Blaster"
A delirious ode to blood-soaked grindhouse fare, "Mack Blaster" opens with its cowboy-ish hero walking across a field, followed by a guitarist singing of his fame. Then "Mecki" Mack Blaster shoots the guitarist's head off with a shotgun. Writer/director Rene Schweitzer packs everything he can into this short's 18 minutes, creating a high-energy, color-saturated lunatic storm of pimps, hos, aliens, and arbitrary disembowelment.
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