Director Clarke Wolfe really has her eye on the ball when it comes to delivering darkly comic horror, and “A Shining Example” seems like she has so much more in store for us. Wolfe’s short horror film is an ode to “The Shining” that’s set in contemporary times dropping us in to a much more relatable conflict. What’s interesting about Wolfe’s film is that she sets up so much ambiguity that we’re never quite sure what’s fiction and what’s character Aiden’s imagination taking shape when all is said and done.
After putting her lucrative writing career on hold to raise her daughter Kailey with little help from her husband Jeff, Aiden finally has the opportunity of a lifetime to get back to work and show run a new installment in the TV franchise that put her on the map. Up against a deadline, toxic family dynamics arise and Aiden’s frustration builds culminating in a gruesome finale.
Writer Wolfe and co-writer Dylan Guerra manage to create such a relatable film about the pressures of writing and creating and the maddening process of it all. When we meet Aiden she’s a woman already crumbling under the pressure of a successful TV show, but she’s forced to deal with her small albeit time consuming family. Along with a sarcastic needy daughter, Aiden also has to contend with Jeff, a lump of a husband. Jeff is played wonderfully by Andy Cohen, transforming him in to such an irritating, and obnoxious louse whose own neediness begins to test Aiden’s own mental stability.
Wolfe’s direction is fantastic, skirting between the edges of dark horror and domestic satire. To boot, “A Shining Example” packs in a ton of great references to Stephen King’s novel, from the mallet, and the bizarre cut away’s. Wolfe even delivers a great iteration of the typewriter monologue that Jack Torrance gives to Wendy. I was hooked on Wolfe’s own twist on this horror tale, and I love how much she leaves for interpretation, as well as commenting on the inherent mental toll writing can take.
Fantastic Fest 2023 is taking place from September 21st to September 28th at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, Texas.