“Midnight Movies” Shorts Block
Director Jill Gevargizian’s short “Call Girl” watches like a short interlude you’d probably see in a digital horror anthology similar to “V/H/S/.” And I mean that as a compliment. As a short but sweet little horror tale writer Eric Havens’ script has all the classic tropes of the genre. There’s the vile enemy, the victim, the set up, the twist, and the juicy comeuppance.
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.
“Social Horror” Shorts Block
Kennikki Jones-Jones’s short horror drama is a film with a premise that rang a bit too close to home for yours truly. Growing up in the Bronx, there are certain kind of boundaries and rules people are expected to follow. Often times children can be heard in the distance crying or being disciplined by their parents and it’s kind of a mutual agreement among many to ignore it unless it gets all too severe. And even then, people tend to turn a blind eye.
“Obsessions” Shorts Block
With the accessibility and affordability of modern technology, it’s become all too easy to spy on people. With a simple click of a button it only takes basic know how to sneak up on a stranger and watch their every move. Director Jill Sixx Gevarzigian sets her horror short on an all too common occurrence. It’s a heinous, intrusive, and perverse crime that’s equivalent to rape or molestation.
“Obsessions” Shorts Block
Director Cameo Wood, and co-writer Ken Liu’s “Real Artists” is a slick bit of satire that folks annoyed by the dominance of certain Hollywood studios might love. In fact, “Real Artists” is a great movie regardless, as it explores the idea of actual art, and what separates actual art from homogenized products for the masses. After her edit of a big studio’s animated movie goes viral, artist Sophia Baker is called in for an interview with a very popular and dominant animation studio.
“Tainted Love” Shorts Block
I love the whole plot twist that ensues in the middle of “My Monster,” a short film basically about finding the right mate, and them showing up when they least suspect it. Brea Grant is always a pleasure to see pop up in these genre pictures, and she’s great in Izzy Lee’s holiday set fractured love tale.
I wasn’t aware of the idea of the fan campaign until 1999 when the quest to save the science fiction show “Farscape” made a ton of headlines. I soon realized that what happened wasn’t an isolated incident, especially as “Firefly” earned a ton of fan support. While fan campaigns like petitions and mail in campaigns have become common place on the internet, fan campaigns reach far back before even home computers were ever made available. “United We Fan” is an original and quite fantastic look at the birth of fan campaigns, how the entire concept represents the best of fandom and the fan community, and the destruction of stereotypes that’s followed the concept of fan campaigns for years.