Film Review: Killer Shorts (2009)

SYNOPSIS:

A horror anthology that is a throwback to the old days of horror when there were hosts to introduce the macabre to the eager audiences.

REVIEW:

While the on pouring of horror genre films and home made movies comes racing in like a flash flood, we try and make every effort to cover them all if not now, then later. Of course, the more that come in the wider the gates open and you get to see alot of home done level films. Killer shorts is a independent home made sort of film. The signs are all there. A production with little costs, some attainable makeup work, and a premise. The premise of this one happens to follow in the old school tradition of “spook house” films built around an anthology setup. Our host this round goes by the name of Count Balazar who greets us in a graveyard to indulge us into his tales of mystery and horror. As the young nubile female sits down for a chat we begin our journey.

Set into segments and presented in anthology format, we begin with the first one called “puncture”. Puncture is a vampire film but in my opinion lacks any real attraction to the genre. A couple ready to turn in for the night gets a call from the girlfriend’s sister to join a party in town. Having not seen her for quite some time , they pull themselves together to save face and make an appearance. Arriving they find it a bit odd that….well everyone’s dead. Puncture marks in the neck indicate a sure sign of vampires. Though when they find their sister, she seem to be ok. They rush home to get “vampire supplies” and start hacking away. Really there isn’t much to this short, which is cheaply done and doesn’t really provide much of a story. Sometimes in these short presentations there’s a bit too much assumption in place and not enough carry thru. So the first short I’d call a pass.

“Last Rendevous” is built with a bit more scare foundation in tack. The set up of a couple and there friends leads to a behind the scenes affair going on that isn’t as secret as they thought.

Walking thru the park they are confronted by a dork. Yep a dork. I’m not sure the reason this was added but it’s kind of funny in it’s own way. Reminds me of when me and my friends used to play around with gags and a video camera.

This one is more presented in slasher format and turns up the heat more than its previous short. While the actors still feel a bit unrehearsed , the story is much more cohesive and resolves better. Fx are kept minimal but still appropriate to what is needed. The resolve is easily determined ahead of time, though the camera work has better flow and works within its capacity.

“Navstar” is the 3rd of the shorts. Its better summarized as a alien or creature that is able to use travelers GPS systems to its advantage by altering there signals to its lair. The concept in itself sounds funny, but what is more funny is the costume they chose for the creature. Now most reviewers would simply brush this off as a cheap look, cheap budget kind of thing….but I was more inclined to look at it as a homage to the old spook house shows they played when I was growing up. It’s classic in the sense that its total B-movie material much like those films. For some reason the “Beast from Yucca Flats” keeps popping in my head, but I’m sure there a few others you could relate this to.

They even went as far as to cheesed up some of the attack shots with the whole “glove in the camera” with cutaways from folks being flipped or attacked. I guess in that sense you have to approach much of this film in that same train of thought. Writer/Director Michael Wade Johnson is the brain-child behind this affair which credits the film as featuring actors Nick Mathis, Ricky Long, and Misty Simmons-Poteet

A B-movie style anthology is the best classification. In the respect of not stepping on the little guys, I can tell they put alot of passion into and thought into their production making it a fun little treat filled with a few funny surprises. I wasn’t into the first short, but the other 2 worked much better for me. In closing, I wouldn’t want to deter folks from this one as it is a good example of true micro budget film making.

Killer Shorts (2009)