Director Austin Kase’s short horror romance is a premise teeming with feature potential. I could have literally watched two hours of this back and forth between the two characters stuck in this tragic romance. “Hide Your Crazy” is a film very much in the vein of “My Demon Lover” channeling a lot of that late 1980’s camp and genre mixing amounting to some top tier entertainment all around.
Iris is hiding a supernatural secret from her boyfriend Dan, a well intentioned new love of her life. She returns home shocked when he surprises her for her birthday, but despite his enthusiasm she begins to freak out. Dan soon discovers what Iris is hiding and that they have to face it together as a couple.
Stars Amy-Helene Carlson and Will Toussaint really do a bang up job carrying this pretty charming and bittersweet horror romance. Like most horror movies, “Hide Your Crazy” is basically an allegory, this time concerning mental health (it’s produced by mental health non-profit Of Substance) and the tendency to be ashamed about the scars that as held from the past. Although much of Iris’ condition is steeped in pure horror, Kase writes her revelation more like a torrid family secret that has added to her curse.
The curse of transforming in to a demon feels a lot like what she might be like in her personal life, and her potential to continue a cycle of violence. When she meets Dan, though, she decides that it won’t be easy but they can face their inner demons together and with proper support. Kase’s film is horror through and through but a mature and well made movie about adults and adult issues that audiences will relate to. The movie is aided by sharp direction by Kase, as well we excellent visual effects by Sandbox and make up by Santino Ferrese.
I look forward to more from Austin Kase.