Short Film Showcase 2

Snapshot reviews of the short films presented at FrightFest Short Film Showcase 2.

The Lure (World Premiere)
Director: Tony Hipwell. Cast: Johnny Vivash. UK 2023. 2 min
In two minutes, Tony Hipwell makes the strongest possible case against the use of swatters and to have the strongest possible respect for your fellow creatures, whatever their size.
4 Stars

Rain, Rain, Go Away (World Premiere)
Director: Sebastiano Pupino. Cast: Carolina Lopes, Isabella Colby. UK 2023. 13 min.
Getting a tattoo in memory of her grandfather following his death, then receiving a phone call from a friend Poppy (Isabella Colby Browne) who had ignored her for years, Clari (Carolina Lopes) is forced to reassess her lifelong relationship with family and friend.

Eerily filmed we are in the realm of nightmares, mental and physical: the tattoo symbolically is both. Although there’s some razor blade bloodletting and ghostly images, the film is primarily psychological with Clari, reeling from the call, now overwhelmed by the revelation, possibly guilt but finally understanding Poppy’s disappearance and her memories tarnished of a person she loved tarnished.
4 Stars

The Devil’s Footprints (World Premiere)
Director: Dean Puckett. Cast: Olivia Driver, Dean Puckett. UK 2023. 13 min.
A couple’s bodies are found in 2004 on Dartmoor and remain a mystery until their camera footage is recovered years later. It’s a found footage film so it’s very rough around the edges. Little in the way of tension other anything to hold the attention, the twist is the means to an end.
2 Stars

Fear Incarnate (London Premiere)
Director: Dylan Coburn. Cast: Bo Liew-King, Xander Manktelow. UK 2022. 7 min.
Filmed in black and white this looks superb with the creature beautifully realised. The story itself isn’t much to write home about being a sort of sword and sorcery, fight the good fight that get lost with the visuals.
3 Stars

Dead Skin (London Premiere)
Director: Ciara Lilly O'Rourke. Cast: Elizabeth Kanzi Jubb, Michaela Short. UK 2023. 11 min
Decidedly icky story of a schoolgirl who has bad psoriasis which is affecting her social life and getting grief from her mother. It touches on the mental anxiety that these conditions can have, especially on young people, though its doubtful many will choose the solution in the film.
3 Stars

Red Lake (London Premiere)
Director: Shaun Dunne. Cast: Claire Bermingham, Hazel Doupe, Terry O'Neill. Ireland 2022. 14 min
Ireland has rich and deep tradition of folklore and ritual that is starting to get some traction in the horror genre. It’s a key feature here as half-sisters Jess (Hazel Doupe) and Maddie (Claire Bermingham) arrange to dispose of their father’s ashes on the day a local legend requires a sacrifice. Performed partly in the Irish language this is an uninspiring rather predictable folk-horror tale.
2 Stars

Chef Gustav (London Premiere)
Director: Luke Frangeskou. Cast: Xandre Pearcy, Luke Frangeskou. UK 2023. 3 min
A plasticine chef and cat fight it out going to extremes to get the food on the plate. Inspired madness and very funny.
4 Stars

Fuse (World Premiere)
Director: Will Dennies. Cast: Johnny Vivash, Meryl Griffiths, Dennis Carr. UK 2023. 8 min
The hardest working actor, at this festival at least, Johnny Vivash is an electrician called out to fix the lights of an elderly lady’s house and finds a lot more than he expected. Featuring the old favourites of dodgy electrics and basements this isn’t a bad shocker that builds dense atmosphere for most of its length.
3 Stars

Knock, Knock, (Knock) (World Premiere)
Director: Brendan Cleaves. Cast: Tom Bell, Kiell Smith-Boynoe. UK 2023. 7 min
A man finds a door in his living room with something behind it tempting him to open it. This film is so smug and arch that it folds in on itself. This type of humour doesn’t do anything for me, it may to you, and that, I suspect, will determine that appeal of this film.
2 Stars

Virtuoso (World Premiere)
Director: Stella Scott. Cast: Victoria Rigby, Roland Manookian, David Lewiston Sharp. UK 2023. 13 min
This is a curious one that has a concert pianist preparing to audition for an orchestra. But things aren’t going well as her mentor is pushing her to extremes that she then finds a way to deal with. Clever in the construction of the toxic male and female protagonist, there’s also a visceral ferocity here that is very unusual and fresh.
3 stars

The Dead of Winter (World Premiere)
Director: Stephen Graves. Cast: Oliver Maltman, Christina Cole, James Swanton. UK 2023. 12 min
Revenge (sort of) is dish served cold in this disappointing on the nose, dose of social criticism and guilt trip.
2 Stars