Hello ladies and gentlemen, your pal Muldoon here with this week's cut of kickass shorts for your viewing pleasures created and submitted by fellow AICN readers. I get all sorts of shorts submitted to this fest here, everything from big budget movie star filled action flicks down to low budget puppet filled action flicks... I mean I get all sorts of stuff and I try my best to group them in lovely little genre chunks so you know what you're getting into when you click on the title from the main page. Even just in the spectrum of comedy, you get all sorts of things that are completely different tonally - from dark humor, to knock-knock jokes, to fart jokes and yet they all seem to get you to giggle. Today you'll see examples of each, ranging from some highbrow humor all the way down to "WTF is this?!?! I don't know, but I can't look away" kind of fun. One thing's for sure, the filmmakers dumped a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (possibly?) into each short below, so I'm sure if you've got comments - they'd love to hear it, just don't be an asshole. Before we get into the funny, I've got a horror short I want you guys and gals to check out. Yes, "But Muldoon... it doesn't fit the comedy theme!!!" It's cool, just go with it.
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:
SEANCE
TRT: 15:00
(Again - This is Not a Comedy)
"So ghosts, seances, spooky things that go bump in the night, been there done that, right"? Zach Beckler's short, SEANCE, will walk up and smack the cynicism right off you with his creepy small tale of film. "Sensing that the place they just moved in is haunted, an expecting young couple host a séance party to cast the spirit out. However, things don’t go quite as expected and, instead, something awakens in them." If you dig what you see, Beckler's expanding the hell out of this into a feature called INTERIOR and you can help kickstart that project HERE. At any rate - give the short a shot.
SÉANCE - A Short Horror Film from Zach Beckler on Vimeo.
Spooky stuff, eh? Let's change gears and get into our comedic groove with DINNER WITH RAPHAEL!
DINNER WITH RAPHAEL
TRT: 10:32
So here we have this week's first bit of hilarity from director Joey Boukadakis. It's got things I just can't help but love, beautiful ladies (Dianna Agron: Check), an iconic Office Space guy (Richard Riehle: Check), a taste of nostalgia with "Donkeylips" himself, Mr. Michael Ray Bower, and a freaking Ninja Turtle... It's got great ingredients, mixed properly and set on a slow burn - I can dig it.
"It's a comedy about a guy who brings his girlfriend home to meet his family for the first time, including his brother who thinks he's a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle."
FELT
TRT: 8:32
Here at Saturday Shorts, I'm shot in a ton of shorts that were made in 48 hours and honestly oddly enough I've found some incredible gems and have posted them before - something about the raw -"this is what you get when you don't second guess yourself, because you just don't have the time" seems to work, though it's typically either a comedy or a horror and that's exaclty what this next one was.
FELT was made in 48 hours with a budget of $250 smackers, "including pizza," and comes to us from Goatdog Productions by way of Matt McVay. The film's got a space ship, puppets, and... another puppet. It's just fun.
JORDAN AND QUINN
TRT: 22:12
This next one is more of a meal consisting of pure candy, with different servings of sugar filled fun that culminate to a dessert so sweet you'll develop cavities just thinking about it. Does the production value in this one make you feel like Tom Cruise could have a cameo at any moment? No, not really - but it's fun and I found myself laughing quite a bit with it and hope you folks do too. Thanks, Jordan VanDina for shooting it at me!
"In a world stifled by rules and limitations, watch Jordan and Quinn naively shatter the laws of logic as they experiment with X-ray glasses, battle for their lives in a game of basketball, or try to escape their past as members of a prison chain gang, all while trying to pay their rent!"
Jordan and Quinn from Jordan VanDina on Vimeo.
PILLOW FIGHT
TRT: 4:53
Up next is something I'm still scratching my head about,"Two sisters engage in a pillow fight that turns epic." Directed by Chris R Wilson Written and produced by Hollie Olson, this story has left me asking "So, when are we getting a sequel?"
FINE FELLOWS
TRT: 20:14
Last up for this week, though certainly not least is Ian Smithered's FINE FELLOWS, an amalgamation of WTF. Super heroes! I love each of these bizarre characters and chuckled quite a bit. I believe Ian's turning this into a web series, so be sure to follow the FINE FELLOWS vimeo channel if you dig what he's put together!
FINE FELLOWS from Dead End Productions on Vimeo.
I hope you fine folk dug one, two, three, or really all of this week's shorts. I'll see you this time next week with something other than comedy - possibly shoot off the genre you guys/gals would like to see in the Talkbacks and we can make it happen. Thanks for reading/watching and if you feel like checking out more SATURDAY SHORTS, click any of the links below:
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 AN ASSHOLE). I picked them, so you know I think highly of all of these, but how about you fine folks? How'd you like 'em?
- Mike McCutchen
"Muldoon"
Mike@aintitcool.com
