Short Film Showcase – Blood in the Snow 2016

Here is my rundown of the thirteen short films that played as part of the 2016 Blood in the Snow Film Festival’s short film showcase.

Summoned
Amanda asks for help from a demon for her abusive father, however things go a little too far. This is a well produced short film that shows that using evil to fight evil can result in some unwanted consequences.

The Fight
A husband and wife has an alternating fight. This short, which is only about a minute long, is practically all about the punchline of the final shot. Still it’s decent.

A Quiet Moment
Hearing her husband through the baby monitor, a mother gets a moment to herself. If is pretty easy to see where this short is heading, though it is still well executed.

It Wants to Be Born
A woman has her own way of dealing with the men in her life. This is a darkly humorous short film, which ends with a sense of irony. However, the title of the film doesn’t really come to play until during the end credits.

The Jogger
A man discovers the difficulties of a jogging routine. This is a quite funny sort film, which goes to some surprising and gory places.

La Tempête Du Siècle (Storm of the Century)
From Discopath director Renaud Gauthier comes this story of a crime gone wrong in an immense blizzard. With an out of order narrative and some extreme violence, Storm of the Century is a worthy follow-up to Discopath from Gauthier.

Mrs. Rafferty’s Red Red Roses
A cultivator of roses is visited by an assassin for hire. Mrs. Rafferty’s Red Red Roses is a darkly humorous short film about an old woman wanting to off her rival in a garden show. While it’s not really surprising where the story ends up, it is still an enjoyable and tongue-in-cheek film.

Brother(s)
A boy acquires use some magical stones to wish his dead brother back. Brother(s) is a typical “be careful what you wish for” story, with some effective tension towards the end.

Everybody Knows Me
Struggling with his marriage, Don takes out his frustrations with tenant Adam. Everybody Knows Me is a film that deals somewhat with disillusionment and frustrations. The film does end up getting somewhat confusing towards the end, but it’s still an OK short.

Engineers
A group of engineers perform experiments on a dead body. Engineers is pretty much just another zombie short, with the bulk of the characters wearing gas masks. Nothing spectacular about this one.

Spread
A woman with a dark secret preys on men through dating apps. Spread is most obviously a commentary on our current dating culture, with a bit of a body horror STD allegory thrown in.

What Do You See?
A woman goes to a hypnotist for help with an entity haunting her. What Do You See? is an exceptionally well-produced horror short with a bit of J-horror influenced tension. I quite enjoyed this one.

Madre de Dios (Mother of God)
From the twisted folks of LuchaGore Productions comes this tale of two elderly Brujos, who perform a dark ritual on a helpless woman. The latest short by director Gigi Saul Guerrero and LuchaGore Productions continues the twisted Spanish horror of their previous short film El Gigante. The body horror of Madre de Dios is not at all pleasant to watch, but you can’t argue that it’s not well produced.