2018 In Sound, We Live Forever

• Directed by: Joshua Giuliano
• Written by: Joshua Giuliano
• Stars:  Torsten Johnson, Drew Marquardt, Eric Rice
• Run Time: 11:43
• Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eTT_xOdmxs

What Happens

We open on a red truck, seen from a distance. As we zoom in, we hear two young people talking about music and making out. We don’t see them at all. We hear her point out that there’s someone watching them, then we hear them get ready to leave, and then we hear them being attacked. Then there’s the aftermath…

Commentary

I was expecting the camera to eventually pull away and show us old skeletons, and that the couple died a hundred years ago, in a plague or something, their voices recorded on the tape with the music. Nope, that wasn’t it at all. 

This is really well done. We don’t see what happens through the first half of the story; we just hear them talking as we watch the truck and imagine what’s going on. The second half is pretty standard for a slasher/stalker film, but the lead-up to that is really good. 

2024 We Forgot About the Zombies

• Directed by: Chris McInroy
• Written by: Chris McInroy
• Stars:  Kyle Irion, Carlos Larotta, Jarrod Yerkes
• Run Time: 3:43
• Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkE4CDN-ILo

What Happens

It’s the zombie apocalypse, and one of the two characters has been bitten; it doesn’t look good for him. They run into what appears to be a lab, with a table full of syringes marked “C__E.” Could this be the cure to the zombie infection?

Maybe, maybe not. Finding out is the fun part. 

Commentary

I know after the first shot, I’d be slowing down on those injections. Still, it’s better than zombification, right? This is brilliantly paced, makes perfect sense, and is really, really funny. 

2022 The Kid and the Camera

• Directed by: Braiden Ortiz
• Written by: Braiden Ortiz
• Stars:  Animated, Richard Stibbard
• Run Time: 7:30
• Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyhoT3smJEQ

What Happens

Young Cailen is gifted a camera, and he absolutely loves it. He takes the camera with him everywhere and shoots everything he can, until an accident happens and the camera gets cracked. That night, unable to sleep, a strange fairy comes to his window and says he can fix the camera. 

What could go wrong?

Commentary

This is stop-motion animated, and not the smooth stuff we have today, but the janky, jerky style from the 1970s. This whole film is very retro, including VHS interference and overexposed images. I don’t remember this one from my childhood, but it looks like I should. 

We had a pretty good idea where this was going, but it’s fun to watch it unfold. Very cool!

2024 The Auteur

• Directed by: Bethany White
• Written by: Patrick Crellin, Bethany White
• Stars:  Paloma Anastacia, Patrick Crellin, Jordan Perry
• Run Time: 8:38
• Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVxJxPWOazE

What Happens

A man sits at his typewriter and gets to work on his script. As he types, we see his words take shape in the real world. He’s written the perfect, sexiest woman he can think of, and then he writes ways to terrorize and murder her. Sometimes, however, your characters can get away from you…

Commentary

The only complaint I have here is that there are several points at which I couldn't read what he was typing, and we were supposed to be able to follow along. It’s very suspenseful; there’s no real explanation, just weirdness. It looks good, it’s got a nice concept, and it’s just the right length. 

Very well done!

2024 Teletubbies Horror: The Footage You Weren't Meant to See

• Directed by: Nicolò Fumero
• Written by: Nicolò Fumero, Francesco Lucci
• Stars:  Ciak Company
• Run Time: 4:14
• Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMgojSc7GZE

What Happens

In this classified government video, a person with voice-altering equipment tells us that the following footage was taken by a missing child who has never been found. It’s also obvious that this isn’t the first time this has happened to a missing child. Who could be behind the disappearances, and what is the strange being, Helios?

Commentary

It’s always been pretty horrifying if you think about it, and the way this is filmed, in the found footage style, makes it even creepier, and funny as well. 

Very creative!