Jeremiah-
Upset about the results of a practice, a high-school football player invites a friend over for a life-or-death conversation to stop a demonic figure from following him.
There was quite a lot to like with this effort. There’s a striking cinematic quality to the shots here, from the scenes at the football field alone at night to the walk home through the neighborhood, all of which make the twist revelation all that impactful for the way it emerges in his story. Crosscutting between that and the strange, masked figure on the outskirts of what’s going on serves this incredibly well with the symbolic burden he’s carrying around finally being lifted sets up the relief that comes with it being out in the open. These make for a wholly impressive effort.
Stigma-
Talking on the phone, a teen invites his boyfriend over for a late-night session together which goes extremely sour once a strange bug makes its presence known.
This was a solid enough effort. It takes a while to get going with the friendly banter on their phones, but once it does it becomes genuinely erotic with their interactions through the provocative camera-work that highlights their time together. The parable about safe sex practices and bed-bugs becomes quite obvious once the discovery of the spore on his body and the failure to remove it that works to connect the two even further. Graced with sterling work on the bug transformation and a depressing ending, this one proved rather enjoyable overall.
The Original-
After suffering a terrible accident, a woman puts her love through a radical procedure that transfers her consciousness into another body which she immediately begins to question.
There wasn’t much about this one. The strange reaction on the dance floor and the cryptic doctor meeting serve this one well enough to get started yet seem as though they’re taking place with info we’re not privy to although the characters are. That ends up leaving the operation a complete mystery as to what’s going on, and when the reveal makes it obvious what’s going on the general idea of individuality it tries to push seems rushed and underwhelming, even though on the surface all the other aspects to be found here were top-notch.
Penance-
Arriving at church, a group of Latinnuals seeks out revenge on a puritanical preacher.
This one was short, fun and to-the-point. The ideas are generated incredibly quickly, showing the group turning the tables on him within moments and using their sexuality to help pull off their vengeance. This is a little unsatisfying since there's very little exposition about the incident and it's graphic in concept but underwhelming in execution with the torture-porn aesthetic without showing this, yet it's still fun overall.
Bathroom Troll-
Bullied by the kids at her school, a teen and her mother summon a deadly bathroom troll to get revenge on them, which grows more difficult when she develops a guilty conscience.
Overall, this was a lot of fun and is the most likely to be stretched out into a feature film. The entire idea of gender conformity and body issues that starts this off is exceptionally well-done, turning everyone into quickly identified tropes that might seem cliched based on the source of influence in here yet never really hampers this one. That comes from the revenge scenes which are quick, hurried and mostly off-camera so it's the easiest aspect to fix when going full-length. Still, everything else about this one is highly enjoyable.
Docking-
Trevor reflects on his fear of dating by using two giant penises in space.
This is the most puzzling and confusing entry here. I don't get the message behind it, and beyond the sexual images displayed doesn't have any reason to be included here since there's not even a horror undertone to anything.
Switch-
After her first sexual encounter with her girlfriend, a teen discovers a horrifying fact about herself that initially seems to be the source of embarrassment for her but eventually comes around to enjoy it.
This feature here displays quite a lot to really love. The main theme of not letting your sexuality define you and to learn to be comfortable with yourself speaks incredible volumes in a short amount of time as this truly proves there's someone out there for everyone so long as you are being yourself. Graced with some searing erotic qualities in the scenes where she's discovering the initially horrible trait and a biting black comedy conclusion, this is the best segment in the block.
This retrospective ran as part of our coverage of the 2019 edition of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Click below to see more of our coverage.
Comments
Post a Comment