2011 - 2019 Horror Shorts

BLINKYTM
(2011)
Dir - Ruairí Robinson
Overall: MEH

This Twilight Zone-esque short from Irish-born filmmaker Ruairí Robinson is the kind that toys with only mildly futuristic ideas that could conceivably be upon us in a more timely fashion than we would be comfortable with.  So in other words, it could also be a Black Mirror episode.  Blinky™ sets up its premise quickly and it is almost immediately foreseeable where it will lead.  So, you cannot say that there is any real tension built up over its brisk, thirteen-minute running time.  It is also a bit annoying to watch a brat kid, (who granted has two parents who seem to make yelling at each other around him a thing they routinely do), treat the adorable title robot like his own punching bag slave, but this may be the point as it almost makes the inevitable finale sit comfortably, (or uncomfortably), in the dark comedy realm.  A bit too obvious maybe, but still harmlessly well made.

THE ONLY MAN
(2013)
Dir - Jos Man
Overall: GOOD

With filmmakers young and old still scraping the barrel as far as zombie apocalypse ideas are concerned, it is a rare thing when a successfully engaging entry in the field can emerge this day and age.  Jos Man's The Only Man is one of these acceptable ideas that portrays the final few days of the title human's predetermined transformation into the undead.  What exactly has transpired to make Earth the desolate wasteland that it is and what exactly has stripped everyone of their humanity to the point that they look like extras in a George Romero movie with cheap rubber masks on, (the film's only minor fault), is not explained, but we are given some potent clues.  The antagonist pits his will against the zombie plague that is clearly overtaking him, desperately proclaiming that he is going to be the one to make it since the rest of mankind willingly did this to themselves, seeing the lack of formidable thought and reason as more of a release than a damnation.  Interesting concepts to ponder and ones that come across excellently here.

VALIBATION
(2013)
Dir - Todd Strauss-Schulson
Overall: GOOD

Teetering on that line of being so on the nose as to be annoying, Valibation is just clever and funny enough to get on board with despite its tongue in cheek, quasi-preachiness.  Written and directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson, (The Final Girls), with an impressive amount of visual showmanship and the budget to feature Cocoa Puffs, a Billy Idol dancing montage, and footage from both David Cronenberg's The Fly and Singin' in the Rain, it beats you over the head almost immediately with the same complaint that the cell phone addicted, information age generation gets routinely reminded of.  Strauss-Schulson has a lot of fun with this cliche though.  It makes for an ideal body horror send up that surprisingly has an uplifting, (be it still warped), final outcome and it is futile to try and not laugh at several of the ridiculous set pieces along the way.

UNEDITED FOOTAGE OF A BEAR

(2014)

Dir - Ben O'Brien/Alan Resnick

Overall: GOOD

The second Adult Swim infomercial from the creative team of Ben O'Brien and Alan Resnick and not the last to fall into the horror camp, Unedited Footage of a Bear is a darkly sly, nowhere near subtle commentary on the dangers of possible side effects attributed to innocently advertised pharmaceutical drugs.  Briefly beginning and ending as what the title misleadingly lays claim to, the short is actually made up almost entirely of a faux-commercial for the miracle stress-relieving drug Claridryl.  Because it is an Adult Swim program which ergo equals drugs, things escalate before too long into a disturbed, highly bizarre nightmare that offers up no possible explanation besides "YouTube adds and drugs are both bad folks".  As a parody, it is impressively convincing and once it makes the complete 180 shift into full blown horror movie, it is just as earnest in its off the rails, disconcerting approach.

THIS HOUSE HAS PEOPLE IN IT
(2016)
Dir - Alan Resnick
Overall: MEH

The guys from Unedited Footage of a Bear fame back at it again and comparatively less on drugs this time.  This House Has People in It follows that staunch tradition for the network of being something that people void of such drugs in their system "don't get".  An entire subreddit was dedicated to cracking the code of this whatever the fuck it is which includes deciphering YouTube comments and visiting various websites.  So yes, plenty of work for people with time on their hands.  Foolishly watching it raw and simply walking away from it, there is really not much to say.  Since it was designed to be investigated, the almost twelve minutes of footage by itself is just a puzzling mishmash of tones, with every potential clue whizzing right over your head if you are not constantly pausing every frame to take notes.  Even then, it is still hard to contemplate how anybody out there is coming up with anything.  It gets points for being a unique, post-interactive media experience at least, but still, you gotta have drugs.

DON'T HUG ME I'M SCARED

(2011-2016)

Dir - Rebecca Sloan/Joseph Pelling

Overall: GOOD

This bizarre project from Kingston University Fine Art and Animation graduates Rebecca Sloan and Joseph Pelling was a series of six independently made shorts which were released online through their website beckyandjoes.com, YouTube, and Vimeo.  Don't Hug Me I'm Scared can be described as Sesame Street on drugs to give it a fair assessment.  It mixes traditional, stop-motion, and computer animation, live action, and puppetry and on a technical level, it is quite impressive while blending its various styles rather seamlessly.  Even if the visceral results are purposely jarring.  More dark humor than explicitly horror, the amusingly childish songs and psychologically disturbing nature grows gradually over the series, culminating in a final episode that hearkens back to the previous five in a satisfyingly trippy way.  It could all mean a whole mess of things or virtually nothing at all, but it is a surreal and manically fun ride either way.