Film Review: Red (short film) (2011)

SYNOPSIS:

Dan has a secret obsession with making snuff films, in which he has sex and kills the women who stop by his house to use his guest bedroom. Everything is bound to change when he meets the sweet Lily, a young drifter who seems to share his passion for cinema. Will she be his next victim?

REVIEW:

Written & Directed by: Maude Michaud
Starring: Cameron Hartl, Olga, Isabelle Stephen

QUICK FIX:

Dan, a movie fanatic, has been a very naughty boy, and I totally mean that in the best of ways. Many women stop by his house to use his guest bedroom. Already off to a great start from where I sit. He gets to have the hot sex with these chicks. Just keeps getting better and better. But he also videotapes himself doing the deed with all these women in order to, I imagine, tide himself over during the dry spells if you catch my drift. But this, THIS, is where it becomes a true horror movie – see not only does he do all this, but he also kills them on tape as he’s getting his rocks off. See, Dan is also obsessed with making his own snuff films. But then the sweet, beautiful Lily comes knocking on his door and he finds that he has a kindred soul to share his love of cinema with. Has Dan finally found the love of his life, or will Lily become the latest victim in a very long line of the old, “If you could just move a lil bit to the left, that’d be grrreaaat” trick? Only one way to find out, folks…

RAMBLINGS:

Ohhhhh, Maude Michaud. If only my nicotine-scarred singing voice didn’t sound exactly like Bryan Adams being raped by a grizzly bear, I would sing your praises at the top of my lungs to all whom I came in contact with!!! Granted, I suppose I shouldn’t worry about scaring the neighbors with my singing. They’re due for a good scare anyways. After all, it’s been almost two years since I got really plowed at my own birthday party and went streaking down the block hellbent on getting cheddar peppers from Sonic at 3am. But that’s a story for another time…

See, Maude first came to my attention thanks to her part in Matthew Saliba’s epic ode to Mary Shelley, FRANKENSTEIN UNLIMITED. Her contribution to the collection of short films based on the original Frankenstein novel, REFLECTION, put her on my radar immediately, so I immersed myself in all things Maude, and I’ve never looked back. So far, all of her films have been shorts, but they have been EXCELLENT shorts. The most kickass one yet, in this announcer’s humble opinion, RED – the one I’m reviewing right here – will be available for purchase in August of 2012, so get your credit cards ready right now, folks. But for her back catalogue, you can find all the other shorts for viewing or purchase right this second on her website here:

www.quirkfilms.ca

She is also now currently in the midst of raising funds for her very first feature film, DYS-, which she plans to have on the screens for us in 2013. You can read all about that and even contribute to the making of the flick right here:

www.homeiswherethehurtis.com

I don’t personally know very many Canadians, but Maude Michaud ranks in great company right up there alongside Matthew Saliba, Bryan Adams, Edge, Emily Perkins, and Chris “Y2J” Jericho as one of my absolute personal favorites from the Great White North. She makes low budget look high tech, and always seems to bring out the very best in her cast no matter who she has in her movies. This time around was the best yet for me, as the on-screen chemistry and sexual energy flying back and forth between Hartl and Olga still makes me break out in a sweat just thinking about it…wooo lawd!!!

LAST WORDS:

With her subtle yet sickeningly twisted and highly erotically-charged method of storytelling, Maude is singlehandedly proving that women are NOT the fairer sex when it comes to tightly-written, epically filmed independent horror. Very few filmmakers have received a more sincere complement from me than that statement, and I will always stand behind it. Not many others I know are doing anything remotely as good as she is on this level, and for a talented filmmaker like Maude there is nothing to do but keep that star rising so listen to me now and believe me later – this is a woman to watch, support, and jump on the bandwagon for right now!!!

Red (short film) (2011)