Tag Archives: Indie Film

Caroline (2018) [Final Girls Berlin Film Festival]

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“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.

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Road Trash (2018) [Final Girls Berlin Film Festival]

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“Midnight Movies” Shorts Block

Director Natasha Pascetta’s short horror film has a lot going for it, particularly the narration by the one and only Heather Langenkamp. Beyond that there isn’t a lot of substance behind the plot for “Road Trash” and it’s more of a word of caution about good intentions and how they can lead to our demise, but it’s all so abrupt and quickly paced, that the main character’s fate feels kind of mean spirited.

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Lucy’s Tale (2018) [Final Girls Berlin Film Festival]

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“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.

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Silhouettes (2018) [Final Girls Berlin Film Festival]

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“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.

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Panic Attack! (2016) [Final Girls Berlin Film Festival]

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“A Real Scream” Shorts Block

Eileen O’Meara’s “Panic Attack” is a very short but sweet look at the chaos that is the panic attack and how horrific it can be. Animated and painted by Eileen O’Meara herself, “Panic Attack” is centered on a young woman waiting at a stop light while driving. When she ponders if she shut off her coffee machine, suddenly her imagination begins to take on a life of its own and a mole hill is transformed in to a gigantic mountain before our very eyes.

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Control (2017) [Final Girls Berlin Film Festival]

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“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.

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All Men Must Die! (2018) [Final Girls Berlin Film Festival]

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“A Real Scream” Shorts Block

At nine minutes Kate Beacom’s “All Men Must Die!” is a complete swing and miss. I get what she’s going for, here, but all sense of the horror element is lost in favor of this odd indie flourish, and a climax that makes no actual point. While director Beacom does enter in to a turn of events that universal to the intended audience, “All Men Must Die” takes forever to get to the literal splash in the climax, and I was left thinking “That’s it?” Continue reading →