Hello ladies and gentlemen, Muldoon here with this week's fun selection of kickass short films created and submitted by fellow AICN readers. While a few of us folks are down here stinking up a wonderful theater for BNAT, I hope you're able to set aside a little time to give these films a shot here with our very own weekly film fest/club. And as per usual, I think pretty highly of the shorts below, yet they by no means share any common themes or elements. It's literally a case of "Hey, this is pretty cool. Why not pair this comedy about giant mutant vampire prostitutes with this drama about a doctor who falls in love with his dying patient? They're both great." (That my friends, is why you'll never see me programming Sundance.) At any rate, keep an open mind and just try to soak each of these up on their own merits. If you've got a short film sitting on a hard drive and are thinking of sending it my way - please do. I'm always, always down to check out shorts. There are too many talented folks out there who keep me from stagnating. So just when I think I've seen it all - boom, I get a slap to the face from some unique filmmaker. Hell, look at Dave Green: I dug his short film, MELTDOWN forever ago - on my first SATURDAY SHORTS column - and now the guy's in line to direct TMNT 2... I love that. Goes to show if you've got a cool idea, grab a camera and go make something. Don't be that kind of filmmaker who has a great script, but never actually makes a film. Go create, screw up, learn from that screw up, create again, and rock the house with your awesomeness (just... be sure to send your cool shorts my way first!). Okay, that's enough from me, let's get on with the shorts.

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:

Up first is a damn fine film. I'm over the moon about this one. It's incredibly darker than what I had anticipated going in, but holy hell is it a tight short. Director Josh Tanner shot this film down in Australia and actually made use out of leftover sets from Bryan Singer's SUPERMAN RETURNS (which is pretty damn neat if you ask me). THE LANDING is "the story of a mysterious UFO landing in 1960s Midwest America and its present day disclosure."

Up next is a dystopian future style short from Michael Chance. It's got a taste of EQUILIBRIUM with a dash of BLADE RUNNER. "A man who works as a human punching bag to relieve others of their stress gets caught up in a noirish mystery pertaining to a strange device that everyone's after."

Next up is a puppet filled musical about one of America's more famous serial killers: Jeffrey Dahmer. Yikes. Detroit's very own bad boy puppet show, "The Gepetto Files" put this one together and while the source material is slightly revolting, it's an "I can't look away" kind of short. It's creepy and interesting.

To end on a high note, next up is a solid film from Saturday Shorts vet Jamie Sims. "HOWL (2013) is a short Psychological thriller about a Primary school teacher struggling to protect a new pupil from a strange man who lingers at the playground fence." If you like what you see, then be sure to head over to Jamie's website for more info! He's a talented guy with a new short circling around the festival world.

Boom! That's if for this week. I'll catch you all seven days from now with a handful of cool shorts for your viewing pleasures!

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. The more info you send my way, the more info there is to put with your short.

Please don’t feel the need to submit multiple times. 

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?

BY THE WAY: If you've had a short featured here, that means that I personally am a fan of your work, so feel free to shoot me any kind of news on new projects/films/whatever. I can't say I'll be able to help or in what capacity, but I'm interested in your work and am always down to see more! (Keep making cool stuff, everyone!)

- Mike McCutchen

"Muldoon"

Mike@aintitcool.com