“Tainted Love” Shorts Block
I could kind of see where “Supine” was headed thanks to the opening shots, but Nicole Goode’s short horror drama still managed to register as a demented peek inside of a complete and utter monster. Eva Larvoire does a bang up job playing Sylvie, a taxidermist living in France, who spends most of her time looking for dead animals on the road.
“Growing Pains” Shorts Block
Directors Iker Arce and Miriam Ortega Dominguez’s “¿Quieres Que Hoy Te Bese?” is a nearly half hour short film that resonated deeply with me when it was all over. What we assume is a short horror drama about a teenage girl coming in to adulthood in the most sinister fashion, we soon discover is a very brilliantly constructed, disturbing non-linear horror tale.
“Growing Pains” Shorts Block
I haven’t seen a short yet that’s inspired so much anxiety in me and I mean that as a compliment. Co-writers/Directors Logan George and Celine Held’s “Caroline” is an all too true to life look at the perils of single motherhood and how sometimes stress can inspire sheer irresponsibility. In a world where the welfare of children has become absolute top priority, there’s very little room to slip up, anymore. “Caroline” touches on an issue that’s become ridiculously common in an age where single parenting is basically the norm.
“Growing Pains” Shorts Block
Director Chelsea Lupkin’s “Lucy’s Tale” is a short I hope to see turned in to a movie someday very soon. I think it has so much potential to become a twisted coming of age story about the birth of evil, as well as a story about body insecurity, sexual awakening, and the horrors of modern bullying. “Lucy’s Tale” suffers from a pun of a title, but once you get past it, Lupkin delivers a narrative that I wish was a hundred minutes and went further in to the story of Lucy.
“Growing Pains” Shorts Block
Sadly, while I had high hopes for “Silhouettes,” I didn’t particularly love it. I think director Sarah Brill has a lot of potential as a filmmaker and I loved the tension leading in to the climax. That said, everything else is kind of routine and dull, while the film itself is in dire need of tighter editing.
“A Real Scream” Shorts Block
I found Kimmy Gatewood’s “Control” to be pretty fucking excellent, and it’s probably one of my favorite short films of the “Final Girls Berlin Film Festival” so far. The premise is genius and her short brought me back and forth from grinning to tisking in sheer sadness; let’s just say I related to her creation more than I thought. While the premise has every chance to be exploitative and played for cheap laughter, there’s an inherent sadness underneath every moment, and it’s more poignant, in the end.
Maude Michaud is a filmmaker from Montreal who has an affinity for the dark side and horror films. See our interview with Maude and previous reviews of her work “At the Door,” and “Frankenstein Unlimited,” to see some of the other things she has going.
Maude’s films are all fascinating to watch as they give insight into the mind of a creative woman with a dark twist to her endeavors. Here are short takes on some of her short films.