Every year, Dead by Dawn wows with its collection of feature premiers, but it also lays a sturdy framework for the showcasing of varied horror-related shorts in its What You Make It programme. 2015 was as intriguing a collection as ever.
Father/Son by Bryan Reisberg 2012
A young man brings his girlfriend on a hunter trip to introduce her to his father. Its simple but not laden with the kinds of anxious frivolity you’d expect, there’s a definite edge to proceedings, a palpable doom on the air. A lack of scoring leaves much of the film feeling like an exposé, which it is, in a boisterous kind of way. In 11 minutes, Reisberg manages to succinctly address a tight group of themes in a few perfect images, proving a succinct distaste for the traditional view of male/female relationships. Yul Vazquez is an immense source of charm and creepiness in equal measure, playing on a set of nightmares reserved for the male subconscious.
Narratively the film pulls a neat, fitting, and truly barbarous twist after a seemingly long and uncomfortable stretch of cross-generational grooming. Father/Son is nothing if not a warning against patriarchal structures but it’s also a serenely played mockumentary on what happens under them. A truly graceful turn in grotesquery from Reisberg.
My Shadow Mocks Me by Jack McGinity 2014
Amidst a long list of editorial credits lies My Shadow Mocks Me, the sole directorial duty of Jack McGinity. It’s a pretty perfect little macabre story about a dog seemingly pushing a child to do awful things. It’s not situational though, the story is told through long exposure to eerie images, the crushing waves of the sea, a desolate beach, paw prints in the sand, everything is evoked through the nice marriage of narration, image, and Andy Stewart’s uncomfortable void sounds.
McGinity’s choice of images are ominous in an old-fashioned way but totally menacing. Old portraits and stark black and white landscapes tell much of the story, whilst the child’s voiceover ramps up the creepiness. Kudos to McGinity for being bold and getting an infant to say ‘gorge on our innards’, but some of this is perhaps trying too hard to be creepy. Even then, some of the images and dialogue are so uncomfortably funny that they manage a chill nonetheless.
Out of Order by David Renton 2014
The only animated film to be found wandering outside the 2D & Deranged Short Animation Programme, Out of Order is a likeable venture into odd psychotropic surrealism. A bearded man returns to his home with the week’s food shopping, only to be confronted by the vestiges of last week’s treats.
Obviously, Dead by Dawn has a long, colourful, and varied relationship with horror and death. Out of Order isn’t exactly a horror piece, but it’s definitely got a strange alienating vibe, one that leaves us uncomfortable as much as it has us smirking at its silliness. Starting off in crisp playful black and white, the film takes a nose-dive into crazy-territory that proves a vibrant feast. The bright schizophrenic colouring, along with Naz Malik’s decrepit sound makes an arresting spectacle from the monotony of food-storage. Renton deserves some kind of trophy for his vengeful Pure Imagination-warbling moustachioed bagel, an equally arresting piece of cabaret in and of itself. Silliness isn’t necessarily bad, especially in horror where the visuals and themes are often so densely macabre that a break in tension is a must-need. Renton’s Out of Order is a short, imaginative, funny, and sickly treat.
In Passing by Alan Miller 2013
A man jumps from a very high building only to meet the love of his life on the way down. It’s some feat, a short film that follows two people on their way down the side of a romantically lit skyscraper. Miller deserves some recognition not just for the technically impressive scope of his short, but the effortless way he manages to pull off the suicide tale without an ounce of horror, grotesquery, or gore.
If anything, Miller’s film is as hopeful, romantic, and endearing a horror short as one could hope to see, but I can’t help feeling a splat would have been lovely. Ignoring the inevitable end of this innately violent venture is wise and daring because it genuinely tries to look for love in the least expected places. It’s a genuinely charming and oddly optimistic tale. Add that this is Miller’s Graduate Thesis Film and you can see why he’s talent to look out for.
Interior. Familia. By Gerard Quinto, Esteve Soler, David Torras, written by Esteve Soler 2014
A mother and father wake their son urgently in the night to confess some long held truths. Quinto, Soler, and Torras deliver a cathartic (for parents) nightmare from the twisted logic of family honesty, love, and truth. Francesc Orella and Rosa Cadafalch, seem to be having a hoot terrorizing their son with their icky and vaguely aggressive admissions. Blatant honesty is orchestrated with all the heart and subtly of a news report: being told you are the product of a failed ‘coitus interuptus’ can’t be easy, especially when it’s being said so blasé. Shit. That’s some horrific and brain melting stuff to hear at half four in the morning from your aging parents.
More hilarious than Orella’s subtle discomfort at some of his wife’s admissions is Adria Diaz’ utter shock, horror, and ultimate sorrow at his parents indifferent affections. The second parent-related horror of What You Make It, Interior. Familia. is laugh-out-loud horror from a situation you never want to find yourself in.
Rat Pack Rat by Todd Rohal 2014
Winning the Special Jury Prize for ‘Originality of Vision’ at Sundance 2014, Rat Pack Rat also won the audience award for Best Short at Dead by Dawn 2015. Rohal is an inconsistent talent, conceptually ambitious and worrying visions, paired with often lame humour, make him an odd but interesting talent. His entry for ABC’s of Death 2, P-P-P-P Scary! was easily the worst of the bunch, showing little consideration or tact in a warbled mess of stuttering japes and silly execution. But here, Rohal proves a far more consistent writer/director.
In Rat Pack Rat, a Sammy Davis Jr. impersonator is hired to perform for a bedridden Rat Pack fan, but the performance turns into one of the least glamourous of his career. Basically, if you want to watch Rohal vent some kind of deep-seated issue with impersonators through a gross lens, then this is your film. 19 minutes of sickly Milky Way oddity, heart-maggots, prostitution, and genuinely charming vocal performance leave Rat Pack Rat an odd, distasteful, but totally watchable little nightmare. Rat Pack Rat has that blatant lack of taste in P-P-P-P Scary, but in a more directed way. It feels like pseudo John Waters with less tact, there’s a slice of Lynch in there somewhere too, but overall it’s a unique experience in the realm of shock well-worth a look.
Scott Clark
