Microcinema
R1 DVD
Web: http://www.microcinema.com
Experiments
in Terror Volume 3 is a further offering in a series of unusual and sinister
horror shorts. Each tale varies in length, quality and presentation but each in
their way offers a different take on the horror genre.
The
collection begins with The Psychotic
Odyssey of Richard Chase which comes in at 6 minutes. It is a very strange
if not perverse short using children’s dolls to create an unsettling
experience. The short is based on the real life serial killer Richard Chase who
slaughtered six people as well as drinking their blood and cannibalizing them.
At first it may seem strange to use dolls to tell such a tale, but in the end
it turns out to be frighteningly effective.
This
is followed by J.X. Williams' three-minute Satan
Claus (1975). Originally screened at a children's Christmas matinee it
tells the tale of exacting revenge on a boss. It is surreal and nightmare like.
Jason
Bognacki's Loma Lynda: The Red Door (2008) is a 10-minute
excerpt from a 40-minute film. The Red Door is a modern Giallo film styled
around the manic characters Loma and Lynda. This dark and stylish tale of love
and murder takes place in the street's of Hollywood and in the distorted psyche
of the heroine. It has won numerous awards and mixes a severely disturbed
induced vision with an impressive musical score. The excerpt is a bit “promo”
like but does give a good experience of the film.
Ben Rivers' Terror!
(2007) is some 24 minutes in length and takes traditional horror motifs and
subverts them into something new. Rivers takes themes from The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre and Halloween to City of the Living Dead and Friday the 13th to
showcase the means, formulas and techniques used in manufacturing fear. Rivers
manipulates the viewer into thinking what will happen next and then stalls the
climax time and time again until finally the peak of the film is reached with
quite some gusto.
Mike
Kuchar is the father of cult cinema, having inspired everyone from John Waters
onwards. Sins of the Fleshapoids is
still considered a B grade cult classic. Born
of the Wind is another of Kuchar’s quirky Sixties productions. For those
who enjoy Kuchar’s strange approach to cinema it will be a welcome discovery,
for others it will be a little more difficult. Kuchar is a very acquired taste
but still quite fun – more cult than horror I would say.
Manuelle Labor
(2007) runs 10 minutes and was created by Marie Losier and Guy Maddin. It has
the look of an old silent film. It is black and white quite surreal. It focuses
on two sisters, five brothers and the birth of a pair of hands. Strange,
strange indeed.
It Gets Worse
(2008, Clifton Childree). This very bizarre film takes us on a journey with the
passengers and crew of a very strange boat where a seafarer’s scrotum blows up
to monstrous proportions as his deadly alter ego possesses him !
Experiments
in Terror, Vol. 3 is an impressive and
intriguing collection of short sinister and horror films. The sheer diversity
of which make it a very worthwhile purchase.
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.3
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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