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Time and
time and time again director Patrick Rea impresses with short horror
films that are even more demented and spookier than the first. In what I
think should be another part in a Patrick Rea anthology film, "Get off
My Porch" is another look in to the mind of Rea who begins his story as
something simplistic and expands upon it to transform it in to something
completely manic and morbid. Rea has the ability to be absurd without
being stupid, and over the top without being unwatchable and he
possesses a distinct tone and eye in every short he creates that is just
peculiar to sit through. "Get off My Porch" is something of an amalgam
of genres, as most of Rea's outputs, and starts off with a usual
eccentric note.
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Neill
Marshall is a couch potato home one day watching television
and eating when a girl scout pops up at his door offering to
sell him cookies. Neil refuses.
The girl,
most eager, sets her foot in the door and Neil kindly
refuses. A short time later another girl scout appears at
the door insisting he purchase some cookies except this girl
is just not as submissive as her partner before her.
Marshall declines yet again. |
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Hours later the doorbell rings non-stop the girl scouts
are on the prowl and before he realizes it these obnoxious little girls
have more than dire motives beyond selling him some lame cookies. Upon
sitting down to watch this, I found myself predicting what would happen,
and then about mid-way I discovered that there is just not a single
predictable moment in this film. Rea turns a dark comedy in to a
somewhat creepy little horror flick in seconds flat and it never feels
clunky in its progression. Rea always keeps a gritty tone to the film
where we know that what we're about to see it far from anything grounded
in reality. The tension increases as the climax reaches its crescendo
and Rea keeps a healthy ambiguity to the motives of these kids even when
it's revealed that they're not actually girl scouts. Not at all. Rea's
film feels like the turning of the screws as the insanity is induced by
the minute leading to an open ended climax that is just dripping with
that classic adage of leaving the audience wanting more.
In the vein of genre gems like "Creepshow" and "The Ray
Bradbury Theater," Patrick Rea conceives yet another great short film
meshing tones of horror, comedy, and science fiction with a twist of
Serling to keep Rea at a constant high. I hope to see more from Rea in
the future, because there's no telling what madness he can wreak with a
feature length film.
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