Concluding my segments of the shorts, I'll be highlighting my
favorite "Short Fuse" shorts. I'll refer to the official FF website
to explain what this block is all about: "The best short films can pack in
more adrenaline, creativity and flat-out insanity than a million big-budget
blockbusters. Or they can show you something so ambitiously horrendous that you
beg for mercy. Your intrepid FF programmers have scoured the international
celluloid goldmines for the most skull-bursting, taste-annihilating and
eyeball-destroying shorts in existence, and this program is truly the
motherlode." As before, I'll showcase my favorite five shorts. Check them
out after the break.
GAME (Dir. Josh MacDonald, 8 min., USA)
I have no clue why, but the whole "evil hillbilly" sub-genre just freaks me out. So I'm glad to see when those damn hillbillies get what's coming to them. This short had the perfect balance of gore, humor and suspense.
LIGHT FRIDAY (Dir. Asier Abio, 10 min., Spain)
One of the greasiest and nastiest shorts I've seen where a guy is so aroused by fake breasts that he doesn't realize that he started eating his own hand. The short escalates to an absurdest climax that makes me wonder just what the hell is going on in the Spanish airwaves.
SKINFECTIONS 2: BLACKHEAD (Dir. Chris Nash, 14 min., Canada)
Once I start explaining the premise of this short to people (and I have done it at least ten times since coming back from the festival), they start to get pretty grossed out. To say that the premise involves a man with a HUGE blackhead in his back is enough, but the fact that he likes to have the hole touched sexually after the blackhead has been cleared out just makes this story even crazier.
SKINFECTIONS 3: LIPLOCK (Dir. Chris Nash, 18 min., Canada)
The conclusion to the SKINFECTIONS trilogy, this one was particularly good in its depiction of fucked up people coming together for no real reason than to be together. When two ex-lovers hook up while the woman's boyfriend is out of town, what appears to be some bacne turns out to be much worse. This leads to a night that can only end in tragedy for this messed up couple.
THE SLEEPOVER (Dir. Chris Cullari, 5 min., USA)
This short had me laughing so hard. The short shows two kids having a sleepover. The new kid in town wants to sneak out to light some fireworks. What he doesn't know is that the town has a problem of having a resident masked killer. The quick and clever deconstruction of slasher films was as effective as it was hilarious. I totally want to see some M.A.S.K (Mothers Against Serial Killers) bumper stickers now.Over my time covering movie festivals, I have seen some of the most innovative and interesting films thanks to the shorts blocks. Kudos to all of the programmers that helped shaped these three blocks including two friends of mine, Brian and J.C. who were part of that group. Well, that's it for my little series of short film reviews for Fantastic Fest, you can check out my other two reviews for the Fantastic Fest shorts and the Drawn and Quartered animation shorts in their respective links.
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