I hope this year has been merciful to you, as October is now in full motion. After such a terrible, bizarre year, feel free to lose yourself in five short horror films for our October festivities, which are no in full swing! Warning: Some of the reviews include the short films for your viewing pleasure, while others are just the teaser.
If you’d like to submit your short film for review consideration, submissions are always opened to filmmakers and producers.
It’s surprising that Daniel Erickson’s “Scary Movie” has fallen so consistently under the radar, especially during the rise of modern Halloween oriented movies. Erickson’s movie is very misleading in that it feels a lot like it meanders back and forth narratively, but in the end, charges head first in to something absolutely clever. John Hawkes’ performance as a gaping, clueless, and frightened young man is wholly intentional. Warren is basically the foundation of “Scary Movie” as he wanders around his small towns’ haunted house attraction on Halloween night literally terrified of his own shadow.
The “Tales from the Hood” series keeps chugging on and sadly doesn’t seem to be taking advantage of its platform involving racial and social commentary, anymore. While “Tales from the Hood 3” is a solid horror anthology, it doesn’t pack any of the social commentary we saw in the original movie and the zany sequel. That both works against and for the considerably low budget follow up. I doubt a lot of people are going to enjoy “Tales from the Hood 3” but I had a good time.
The problem with Vincenzo Natali’s “In the Tall Grass” is that it sets up so many questions and ideas, but never executes them well enough. “In the Tall Grass” feels very much in the vein of Stephen King’s “Children of the Corn” where a massive field of innocuous grass becomes the sight of a supernatural gathering. King and Joe Hill are very good about creating terror out of domesticity, and for the first thirty minutes Vincenzo Natali’s film had me hooked. Then it just about runs out of steam with too many undercooked concepts and never quite won me back.
Dante Yore’s “Fear Pham” is three quarters a really good Halloween horror film, and one quarter an absolutely ridiculous waste o time. It’s a shame because for most of “Fear Pharm,” I was genuinely lost in the engaging concept and entertaining mix of horror and comedy. Yore has a great concept with a narrative that’s mostly smooth and interesting. Yore makes good use of limited scenery while also building entertaining and sympathetic protagonists forced in to an absurd but creepy circumstance.
As a hardcore Looney Tunes fan, it’s heartbreaking to see how low the character gallery sank in the latter years. With the aging and inevitable death of Mel Blanc, the Looney Tunes basically tread water for years. With this movie, the Looney Tunes gang shares a marquee with a group of goofy monsters that get in all sorts of mishaps and adventures. What ensues is a dull, grating (the Looney Tunes don’t need no stinkin’ laugh track), and absolutely bizarre outing for the gang from Termite Terrace.
Who better to celebrate Halloween than the Scooby Gang? “Happy Halloween, Scooby Doo!” is the thirty first animated movie in the long running franchise. It’s a long running franchise that, to its credit, doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. This installment is firmly a Halloween oriented movie, revolving around the idea of fear, and Velma trying to ignore her emotional response to fear in favor of rationality. What she ultimately comes to realize is that fear can be a good thing; it can even help us survive in perilous situations.