So I’ve been watching some films from the 2023 iteration of the

HollyShorts Film Festival

Making short films is incredibly difficult, as every second counts. You can’t fluff it or go off in redundant or pointless tangents; you have to get in, tell your story, and get out.

I know. I’ve got friends in the local filmmaking community, one of whom, it turns out converted a piece of my own writing into a short film, so technically, I have a story credit on IMDB.

Pretty cool, right?

That said, I’ve watched everything available in the

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

Category, and I have to say, I haven’t been let down yet. Here’s some quick thoughts on those films:

Content: The Low-Fi Man

What a great, scathing indictment of the evolution of entertainment from films and TV shows to what we have today: “Content.”

Filmmaker Brian Lonano blisters the idea consumers should “Be content with Content,” and he will likely never work with the Disney Corporation ever in his future.

This one, with its homages to Tetsuo: The Iron Man, as well as its clear-eyed skewering of online media “content” generators is without a doubt, one of the best conceived and executed shorts I’ve seen in quite a while.

Kudos to you, sir.

~~~~~

The Blue Drum

This one begins as a typical family squabble following the death of a father. It slowly devolves into a quasi-supernatural mystery, however, concerning a lonely daughter’s torment at the memory of her mother, who had left the family years earlier and never reached out to her again.

What could be portrayed as the simple crackling of a mind in the midst of trauma takes a dramatic left turn in its last moments.

A very well done build up to a solid, if not completely foreseeable, conclusion.

~~~~~

Bad Rabbit

A grown woman with a thing for rabbits and an abusive, bedridden mother, is pushed to the brink by physical and emotional abuse. She finds herself liberated by the sudden appearance of Bad Rabbit, who encourages her to stand up for herself in the wake of blistering criticism and abuse.

The short opens and closes similarly, nicely bookended, but you only feel bad about one end of the film.

Thumbs up from me.

~~~~~

Vibrator Girl

This one is easily the most esoteric of the shorts in this group.

Vibrator Girl is a surreal look at a woman’s self-image and how this impacts her ability to enjoy sex. A compulsive user of her vibrator, she begins to believe it is… changing her somehow.

Seeking conventional medical help, she also joins a group for women to experience physical pleasure in a zero-threat environment. She can’t handle that, and finds herself back at home with her vibrator, until…

Surrealism hits, lol.

An interesting look at how negative self-image and repressive sexual mores can repress women, turning them into nothing more than sex toys.

~~~~~

Every Night at 3:30

This one is a simple tale of how anxiety can impact our perception of the world around us. Waiting for the results of some medical tests, a woman begins to get unusual alerts from her home security system. As she waits for those results, she obsesses about figuring out the “what” and “why” of the alerts, culminating in a confrontation with herself and her fears.

An effective look at the fragility of the human mind when confronted with uncertainty of the highest order–its own survival.

~~~~~

Gravid

A simple tale of a possible pregnancy. Or is it?

A couple’s attempt to get pregnant is hampered by the fact that she doesn’t, in fact, want to have children…ever. An unusual recurring nausea and its increasingly bizarre results finally culminates in one of the weirdest families ever.

An intriguing look at parenthood — not just motherhood — and the pressures and expectations on and FROM both would-be parents, Gravid‘s unnerving ending is definitely worth the trip.

~~~~~

Stalled

What would you do if you were sitting in a public bathroom stall and a young boy crawled under the wall and simply stood and stared at you?

That’s the premise of Stalled.

Langston Fishburne’s mind runs the gamut of possible ways to escape the bathroom once it’s filled with other people waiting to use the stall.

There’s a lot to unpack here, too much for this review, but suffice to say it’s an enlightening and strangely entertaining ride through happenstance and consequence (both deserved and undeserved).

That ending, though. Thumbs up. Perfect.

~~~~~

Tooth

Tooth is a quick-hitting, semi-animated bit that has one goal: to entertain.

It does.

It’s not (that I can see) trying to make any bigger points or social commentary; it’s simply a bit of entertaining fluff about an old woman and her oral hygiene.

And its consequences.

But it is, in fact, pretty fun to watch.

~~~~~

I’m looking forward to moving into some of the other categories in the next couple of days, and hopefully I’ll be able to post some thoughts on those films, as well.

Have a great day, everyone!