Jane: Short Fuse: This collection of horror shorts had a few that really stood out to me among the crowd.
Ninjas (directed by Dennison Ramalho) was anticipated to be one of the best by a lot of people that I spoke with at FF. It contained a truly disturbing scene and an inventive visual sequence that had me squirming in my seat, though some of the imagery used was remeniscent of J-horror films (which a lot of people like, I think I am just way burned out on it).
Rosenhill (directed by Johnan Lundborg and Johan Storm) is a clever piece about an elderly woman who has recently moved into a nursing home and believes that the staff have nefarious plans for her. I really enjoyed it.
Interview (directed by Sebastian Marka) is a dark, humorous yarn which slowly unravels as a journalist interviews a serial killer – this film was a lot of fun and made great use of it’s short running time.
Off Season (directed by Jacob Jaffke) a man and his dog break into unused summer homes by an ice covered lake during the winter season and find something disturbing and terrifying while they pilfer for loot. This piece was so beautifully filmed, the stark winter setting adds a tremendously haunting atmosphere to the story, this was easily my favorite among the short programs.
Stake Land (directed by Jim Mickle and starring Danielle Harris, Connor Paolo and Nick Damici) Set in a kind of post-apocalyptic world in which vampires have infested nearly every part of the globe (save the colder climates, as these vampires are cold-blooded like reptiles), a young boy is rescued by an older man after his family is slaughtered and together they seek refuge in a place called New Eden (Canada) which they believe is free of vampire infestation.
It’s hard not to make comparisons to The Road – and to a lesser extent, to Zombieland – because there are many similarities. This isn’t to say that the film isn’t good – I enjoyed it quite a bit – but I do think it suffers from the resemblances that it bears to other recent releases covering similar themes.
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