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Reviews
Familiar (2012)
Ain't it Cool news review
"Though my favorite subgenre of horror varies with the changing seasons, body horror has always been one of my obsessions. Out of all of the short films I checked out this week, FAMILIAR is by far my favorite. Fantastically acted. Suspensefully shot. And gruelingly written; FAMILIAR allows you into the head of one desperately apathetic man.
Robert Nolan plays Dodd, a man who hates his life. He loathes his wife. He's unimpressed by his kid. And now it seems as if something is growing inside of him. Soon, Dodd is hearing voices from the mysterious lump which is telling him to make some drastic changes to his life. Is Dodd having a midlife crisis? Is he going insane? Or is there something really lurking under Dodd's flesh? All of these questions are revealed in this slow burner which ends with 3rd degree scorches. And lots and lots of blood.
I can't recommend FAMILIAR enough. Find out how to check out this short here (fatalpictures.blogspot.com). It's a gory short that packs a visceral wallop harder than five fill length features."
- Ain't it cool news
Worm (2010)
a restless, sordid and ferocious short that will make you feel uneasy for its entire running time
-Review of WORM by Rogue Cinema's Josh Samford- "I was sent the short film Consumption, from director Richard Powell, not too long ago and it turned out to be one of the more impressive little features that I had the good fortune to stumble upon. Consumption was a bizarre twist on romantic genre archetypes by crafting a pretty ordinary love story into a story of cannibalism. Director Richard Powell left an indelible impression on me with his film and I was quite excited to receive the latest from Fatal Films in my mailbox. Worm continues a vision that entails the bizarre, but it is darker and more sordid project than his previous work; which was far more violent. Taking on the human mind in a way that isn't absolutely original, Powell manages to take the internal monologue and remove the pretension from it and craft a nerve shattering short film that pushes the audience to a near breaking point.
Geoffrey Dodd (Robert Nolan) a high school teacher who absolutely despises his own life and the process that it has become. In his life the only thing he has is his own inner being that he keeps hidden from his external life. Through an internal monologue he explains to the world the woes and horror that craft his reality. However, there is one shining thing that keeps him going: the beautiful young student Lillian who he finds himself absolutely infatuated with. He knows society won't accept his love for her, so his mind wanders. Geoffrey is torn between the reality of his life, where is a presentable and generally agreeable man and his internal thought process which is filled with violence and seething anger. Will he crack before the end of the school day and if he does, who will be safe? With a focus on the title for this short film, you have to wonder where the name Worm comes from. It could be as simple as being short of "bookworm", which few of Mr. Dodd's students are apparently. However, looking at the poster artwork, one wonders if it isn't an allegory to the classic "apple for your teacher" concept. After all, we've all seen cartoons and other media that has presented the worm that lives inside of the apple. Showcasing to us a lovely outside demeanor, but on the inside there's a creature gnawing away at the insides. Eating it apart and leaving it empty. The character of Geoffrey Dodd has his own personal worm eating away inside of his mind, as he lets his anger and negative feelings tear apart his sanity. Although we expect a school setting to be a paradigm of safety, recent times have shown us that isn't the case. Although Powell isn't saying that all teachers are subsequently insane with this particular piece, I think the ultimate goal is to show the differences between our inner voice and our outer demeanor. You can never know what is going on with the internal voice and that's a scary thing some times.
The performance by Robert Nolan is simply spectacular. His character throughout the course of the short turns from being your average smart-mouthed jerk who has something bad to say about everyone, to being a man crippled by his own negativity and fear of rejection. He is the stage for all of our uncomfortable emotions and Nolan presents them in a way that actually comes across as pitiful. Director Richard Powell had some interesting performances in his previous work but Nolan really shines here. Along with the exceptional acting, the visual look of the film is equally great. Although shot in broad daylight, within a classroom for the most part, the film still manages to create atmosphere. There are some interesting roaming shots throughout as the camera never seems to be relegated to one position so we get a film that doesn't feel settled. It's a restless, sordid and ferocious short that will make you feel uneasy for its entire running time. To learn more about Worm, you can check out the Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/WORM/138469812965 "
Consumption (2008)
Review By Josh Samford of Rogue Cinema
"I have to give thanks to our editor here at Rogue Cinema, a good man named Duane L. Martin. Duane, who not only takes an incredible amount of time out of his life every month to see to it that this zine gets published on a quick basis - but he is also the man responsible for dealing out who gets what DVD screeners. I used to just assume I was lucky to get so many films that I find interesting - but now I realize it's Duane who knows my taste. He may not always agree with my film choices, but he knows what intrigues me and Consumption is something just up my alley. Consumption is about as dark and morbid a short film as you are going to find outside of something like Cutting Moments, and I was absorbed for every minute of it. As someone who is both a big fan (as much as one could be that is) of cannibal films and the ever-obscure "girl gets hacked into pieces" genre made popular in Japan - Consumption came as a real pleasant (read: disturbing) surprise. I walked into the film with literally no knowledge of it nor the plot details beforehand, and I am here now to relay to you that if you're an extreme horror fan that this one is going to be worth searching out. Without question.
The story focuses on a Professor who we are introduced to at his mirror, as he repeats his introduction to a guest that hasn't arrived. When the doorbell rings we are introduced to his visitor, a beautiful (and I mean beautiful) young woman who appears to be there for dinner. The two sit down to their meal, and the young woman appears nervous. She excuses herself to go to the restroom and makes a phone call to her ex-boyfriend who she has apparently broken up with. She informs him that he won't have to worry about seeing her... ever again. The two keep their agenda hidden, but in minutes all is revealed as the woman then signs a waver and gives a final goodbye to the professor's video camera. The professor then steps behind her, says his goodbye and then slits her throat. He pours her blood in a bucket as she passes away and we discover his true motive. He is interested in the purity of human meat, and pretty soon both we the audience and the professor himself will see how pure the meat truly is.
Certainly not the goriest film to deal with this subject, but the idea of voluntary cannibalism is something that has only been made all that popular with the case of Armin Meiwes out of Germany not too terribly long ago. For those unaware, Meiwes is a man who apparently found another fully consenting man on the internet who's goal was to be eaten. So Meiwes invited him to his house, the two were intimate and then the man was systematically killed and eaten. The story has received a lot of publicity with two feature films being based around the case, and Consumption took quite a bit from the story as well. You can't help but be intrigued by such a bizarre and horrible story, and filmmaker Richard Powell crafted his own disturbing twist on the story by showing a variation and having a man of class and prestige being the one behind the knife. The moral ambiguity of the situation confounds the viewer but the slightly pretentious professor is always confident throughout - until he knows he might have made a mistake. The ending makes the entire effort completely worthwhile and actually sells Bruno Talotta's (who plays the professor) performance all the more. I don't care to give it away, but the twist and failures of the professor hit home with a truth and show his fragile mental state for what it is.
The short isn't the goriest of its type, but it really is pretty sickening at times. Skin is peeled from the body, the head is hacked off, intestines are removed with reckless abandon and the carcass dummy used for the film is very, very effective! In the end, if you're a fan of rather extreme horror or you're simply looking for a horror short that is made with some professionalism as well as something that will leave an everlasting impression - this would definitely be the one. You can read more about Richard Powell, director of Consumption, at his personal Website www.fatalpictures.com.Give the film a look if you're a horror fan, I guarantee you won't be disappointed!"