Saturday, September 17, 2022

13 MINUTES OF HORROR: SCI-FI HORROR (2022)

 

(a.k.a. NYX 2022—13 MINUTES OF HORROR: SCI-FI HORROR. Various directors and screenwriters, listed within review)

 

Overall review

Edited by Ashley Lynch, 13 MINUTES is one of the best short-film anthologies I’ve seen a long time. All of the one-minute flicks have something to recommend them to viewers, especially “Overtime” and “Screengrab.”

 

 

Review, film short by film short


1

Beauty Booth

(Director/screenwriter: Marilyn Flores)

A young woman (played by Alba Villaronga Cases) uses a photo booth-like app to make herself more attractive. The results are considerably less than what she was hoping for.

Good, smart work.

 

2

Overtime

(Director/co-screenwriter/co-star: Kristine Gerolaga. Co-screenwriter/co-star: Steven Krimmel)

This is a blackly humorous, ethereal, and eerily—almost sleazily—red backlit entry (kudos to cinematographer William Green), where a bedridden, dying woman and “sole breadwinner: for her family (Kristine Gerolaga) in a dark room is attended visited by a masked co-worker (Steven Krimmel) regarding financial coverage for her family when she’s gone.

Standout short film.

 

 

3

Nothing Has Changed

(Director/screenwriter: Carla Grace Fajardo)

A romantic virtual reality trip with his boyfriend goes awry for a gay man. Stars: Manase Missa and DJ Tinaz.

Good, smart (with a briefly palpable angst) piece.

 

 

4

Screengrab

(Director/screenwriter: Sadie Walton. Screenwriter: Meaghan Morris.)

Occult, intensely dark and mood-effective (especially its end music, no credited composer) film short where a grim “Zoom Participant” (listed character name, played Sam Kittelson) watches an online “Witch” (Meaghan Morris), and reacts in a shocking fashion. Also co-stars Sadie Walton as a “Disembodied Head.”

One of my favorite entries in this filmic anthology, has an Old School, 1980s-esque feel.

 

 

5

Transform(Her)

(Director/screenwriter: Bianca Malcolm)

The fashion choices of three pretty female dolls are judged by three male dolls, one of them a hideous alien, in this reality TV-esque, stop-motion animation short, where the female dolls are more than they seem.

Fun, clever, and brightly hued.

 

 

6

Sayonara

(Director/screenwriter: Elaine Chu)

A woman’s practical and briefly upbeat online video about getting through an apocalyptic pandemic turns dark (and hilarious). Good, timely—especially after these last couple of years—short.

 

 

7

Specimen 9126

(Director: Robbie Barnes. Screenwriter: Devi Bhaduri.)

In an Area 51 lab, an alien “Creature” (Rob Motoc) stalks a terrified woman (Quinn, played by Tammy Davis). Entertaining and creepy.

 

8

Pardon the Intrusion

(Director/screenwriter/animator: Megan Llewellyn)

This animated, prose-poetic short concerns a woman being visited by a narrating creature (voiced by Aysha U Farah). It’s well-made, has an intuitive, experimental element going for it.

 

 

9

2 Weeks

(Director: Sara Werner. Screenwriter: Bry Gallagher.)

A woman (Sadie, played by Bry Gallagher) losing weight, two weeks in advance, for a friend’s (“The Bride”) beachside wedding. Lots of flashy hard cuts and weird angles in this one, with a funny ending.

 

 

10

Mother

(Director: Deanna Gomez, billed as Deanna M. Gomez. Screenwriter: Mercedes K. Milner.)

Explorers in spacesuits investigate an unfamiliar space, not knowing what they’ll find. Solid, interesting (in a good way) short work.

 

 

11

Take a Breath

(Director/screenwriter: JC Farris)

A woman (played by Maria Stephens) physically shifts between two locations—one likely fatal for her, the other slightly less dangerous—in every-few-seconds increments. Excellent character sketching in this one.

 

 

12.

nine

(Director/screenwriter: Olivia Hill)

A ticking clock paces this audio-focused, effectively unsettling, and bleakly humorous mini-film.

 

 

13

Momento Mori

(Director/screenwriter: Izzy Lee)

April 9, 1983. A frustrated scientist (Megan Duffy), up for days, monitoring lab machines, and writing down her findings, gets a result she isn’t prepared for.

Entertaining, well-shot, atmospheric.


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