This week's SATURDAY SHORTS are an explosion of genre goodness! Check 'em out!

Hello ladies and gentlemen, Muldoon here with this week's crop of killer flicks. This week we've got balls to the wall horror, far out scifi awesomeness, and fantasy shorts to boot. Personally, I'm all about movies for one (simplifying here) reason - escaping from the confines of my reality and experiencing the fantasies of imagination. How else could you ever see with your own eyes a living breathing dinosaur chasing down people to gobble them up or get dropped onto an alien world where you're being hunted by giant Predator monsters? The shorts today all nail that, that sense of "This is pretty fucking cool and could never really happen." At least that's my opinion, feel free to fire off in the Talkbacks after you give each short a shot (just don't be an asshole. Save that for a different post). So let's get to it, let's see what our fellow Ain't It Cool Readers have been up to.

Go grab yourself some popcorn, lock your kids in a closet, kill the lights, relax and check out this little weekly film fest we've got ourselves here:

BAD MOON RISING

(Horror)

First off, who doesn't like well done man in monster makeup movies? I sure as hell do and apparently so does director Scott Hamilton as evidenced with BAD MOON RISING. This short has been taring up the film festival circuit, so I feel especially lucky that we're allowed to screen it here. Whenever Hamilton gets the feature version down, count me in.

Held captive in a basement, a young man is repeatedly beaten. As his torture intensifies, he finally breaks. His captors have won, but they’ve missed one little, bloody, thing…"

Bad Moon Rising is short film based on an in-development feature film script of the same name. The short film screened at last year’s Screamfest Horror Film Festival, whilst the feature film script was a finalist in Screamfest’s Screenplay Competition. The special effects creature make-up was designed by 2011 Fangoria Magazine Chainsaw Award winner Steve Boyle.

STARBOY - ETERNITY

(Steam Punk)

Up next is Zac Blair's visually stunning dive into the world of steam punk goodness. I watch more shorts than you know and I know "steam punk" typically gets a knee jerk reaction of "no more!!" But holy hell, Blair couldn't have had a fresher approach. The closest film I can think of off the top of my head is REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA, though comparing the two does neither justice, but that level of energy with kickass visuals and music - it's almost palpable. That all said, if none of that seems to pique your interests - well, maybe ETERNITY can bring you back from the dark side of "meh."

Directed by myself [Zac Blair] and Produced by Mabelle Teh, Eternity started out as a music video and has now become a 3 part mini movie. The production started in November 2009. We shot in June of 2011 in various locations around Auckland, New Zealand. It tells the story of a young girl and her fight against the "Strangers" who have taken over her village.

It stars Matt Bowden aka Starboy as the Alchemist and his daughter Shizzi as the hero.

Part 2 is out later this month, with part 3 coming with the release of Starboy's album later in the year.

Want more? Check out the trailer for the 2nd Part:

JAMES VS REALITY

(Sci Fi Comedy)

This next one was sent in by 3D sculpter artist Malc Burke and was done on a shoe string budget and honestly, it's just good old fashion fun. Directors Chris Wilson and Tim Feeney put together a fun little flick. Check out Malc's website HERE as well as the director's site HERE.

A chronic escapee from a mental institution, our 'hero' James, believes he has super powers. He is a nuisance to his physiologist with his attempts to save 'this whole stupid planet on his own'. Is he only doing the world more harm than good? Well, maybe...

NAZI ZOMBIES: I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW

(Zombie/Video Game Adaptation)

Here we are with filmmaker Jake Akuna's film and if you don't know what you're in for after reading only the title of the film, I can't help you. This short is completely packed to the rim of fun and awesome stuff for the sake of fun and awesome. Be sure to check out the film's website HERE.

DESCRIPTION:

Based on Call of Duty's Nazi Zombies franchise, this is a fan-made short, currently being developed as a web series. It stars Yuri Lowenthal (Ben 10, Naruto, and The Prince of Persia video games), Zero Kazama (Deadliest Warrior and host of MTV's Silent Library), Boris Kievsky (Call of Duty video games) and Nicholas B. Gianforti (Hawaii Five-O) as the four WW2 soldiers from the CoD games World at War and Black Ops.

FUN FACTS:

-This short was financed through an Indie Gogo campaign, where our goal amount was $5,000, but we only managed to raise less than $3,000.

-We only had three actors to play the "Zombie Horde" and one of them had to leave the shoot early, so some digital duplication was necessary.

-While many short films on the web incorporate the use of digital muzzle flash for their gunfire, our film benefited from the services of Armorer/Prop Master Christian Ramirez (Deadliest Warrior and 1000 Ways to Die), who provided us with blank-firing weapons. Only the German's full auto MP40 had digital muzzle flash.

-Voice actor Steve Blum lent his voice to the project by recording a brief, two-line prologue for the short, but it was later cut because the nature of the story changed enough to make the prologue irrelevant. A clip of the voice over will be made available through the website in the near future.

RECEPTION

(Horror)

Up next we have director Dane McCusker's beautifully shot, but creepy as hell short. "When an expectant teen mother reluctantly works the Night-Shift at a Hostel she must investigate a complaint about strange noises coming from one of the rooms. What she finds locked within, forces her darkest fear to surface"

TUB

(Horror)

Director Bobby Miller's film, TUB, is... Well the tagline he's used is "Paul jerked off in the shower. Paul just impregnated his bath tub." Who thinks of that? Bobby Miller, a man whose films I plan to enjoy from afar. Seriously, this one's great.

And in the immortal words of Porky the Pig, "That's all folks." That's it. No mas shorts for this week. I sincerely hope you guys and gals had half as much fun watching these shorts as I did. I'd like to thank all the filmmakers who shot their films into me as well as all of you fine readers who continue to send them in, I more than welcome them - my only regret is it takes me a while to get to each and everyone, but that's because I do watch every single one that hits my inbox.

But what? You want more SATURDAY SHORTS fun? Bam, here's a list of previous columns/screenings.

If you have a short and think it belongs here or are on the fence about whether to send it in, please do send it in - I'd love to see what you've put together. I've already seen hundreds of fresh new filmmakers' shorts and like any good addict, I need more!

Shoot me an email at "Mike@aintitcool.com"

In the subject line include:

“SHORTS” + “Your film’s name” + “The film’s genre”

Then, in the body of the email, please include a synopsis of the film and any contact information you might think I need or would want published.

Please don’t feel the need to submit multiple times. I swear to each of you I truly check every email I get, and sending the same short a few times just makes it a bit messier.

Remember, the filmmakers might still be in the audience, so feel free to share your thoughts in Talkbacks below. (JUST DON'T BE A DICK). I picked them, so you know I think highly of all of these, but how about you fine folks? How'd you dig em?

- Mike McCutchen

"Muldoon"

Mike@aintitcool.com