THE INFERNAL CAULDRON (1903)

 

(original French title: LE CHAUDON INFERNAL; American title: THE INFERNAL CALDRON AND THE PHANTASMAL VAPORS; U.K. title: THE INFERNAL CAULDRON. Director/screenwriter/producer/star: Georges Méliès)

 

Review

In this two-minute, G-rated silent short, two excitable, almost cartoonish devils stuff three humans into the titular flaming cauldron so that they can summon their sacrifices’ ghostly essences. While there’s not much storyline, the visual aspects, especially for a brief 1903 work, are amazing— Méliès, INFERNAL’s only credited player, appears as one of the bluish-green, shirtless devils (Belphegor, according to Méliès’s Star Film Company); the struggling souls are clad are soft pink, with other soft colors (yellow, orangish brass) sprinkled in the background. All of this was hand-colored by the prolific Méliès, a French illusionist and director whose talents innovated filmmaking with his (according to Méliès’s IMDb page) “use of special effects, popularizing such techniques as substitution splices, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves and hand-painted color”, pyrotechnics, soft focus, and storyboards. Méliès is especially famous for his 1902 film A TRIP TO THE MOON.

Great two-minute thrill, worth your time.

KNOCK KNOCK (2018)

 

(Director/screenwriter: Paul Catalanotto)

Review

In this six-minute horror short, a woman (Christine Tonry, ANTI-VAXXER, 2021), excited and getting ready for a date, is stalked by a stealthy, hard-to-track faint knock in her house. She follows the intermittent and spooky knocking throughout it, and you know it’s not likely to end well for her.

KNOCK is an all-around solid, every-shot-counts, suspenseful short, with—aside from the woman not grabbing any kind of weapon—a promising premise, and a worthwhile not-quite-a-twist ending. Hamp Overton’s (SACRILEGE, 2017) cinematography is impressive, especially considering KNOCK’s limited budget, and its sound department (John Charles, Mike Gilbert, and Qing Yu) maintains an unsettling feel throughout. This feels like a “proof of concept” work, one worth watching.

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.

RUNAWAY BRAIN (1995)

 

(Director: Chris Bailey. Screenwriter/story source: Tim Hauser.)

Plot: Mickey Mouse, having forgotten about his first date-with-Minnie anniversary, must come up with a lot of money fast to purchase that Hawaiian trip-for-two Minnie thinks they’re going on. Mickey, unaware that the ad he responded to was run by a mad, primate scientist, finds himself trying to dodge a lobotomy and a giant, slavering monster named Julius who’s tearing up the town, and after Minnie as well.

 

Review

Originally shown before theatrical showings of A GOOFY MOVIE in 1995, some in those audiences found the horror-tinged (but still goreless, light and silly) seven-minute animated short too macabre for their taste, so RUNAWAY was largely trimmed from prints of other films released at the time. At the 68^th Academy Awards, RUNAWAY was nominated for Best Animated Short, an award that was ultimately given to Wallace and Gromit’s A CLOSE SHAVE (1995).

RUNAWAY is a fun, excellent, twisty, and action-oriented cartoon, deftly moving from one frenetic scenario to another, with some good Disney in-jokes and references thrown in as well as horror references (e.g., THE EXORCIST, 1973, when Mickey stands under a streetlight outside Dr. Frankenollie’s house, and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein). This being a Disney product, of course there’s great animation and a happy ending.

The voice talent is as follows: Wayne Allwine voiced Mickey Mouse; Russi Taylor (WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, 1988) voiced Minnie Mouse; Bill Farmer (MINIONS, 2015) voiced Pluto; Kelsey Grammer voiced Dr. Frankenollie; Jim Cummings (ALADDIN, 1992) voiced the Monster.

Deeper film(ic) dive

RUNAWAY is available. . .

. . . by purchasing the 2004 DVD set WALT DISNEY TREASURES: MICKEY MOUSE IN LIVING COLOR, VOLUMETWO: 1939-TODAY

and

. . . as a Movies-Anywhere exclusive digital download bonus in the Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection, though it isn’t part of the Blu-Ray/DVD set.