THE STYLIST SHORT CUTS COMPETITION

The Stylist Short Cuts competition was supported by the team behind The Stylist (currently available to stream on ARROW) and aimed at discovering, celebrating and promoting female filmmakers within the Horror film industry. One of the main criteria for this competition was that all entries had to be written or directed by a woman, trans or non-binary filmmaker.

There were eight winners overall…

ALCHEMIA Dir Natacha Thomas

A woman coerces her husband in to some very dark bedroom games

Of all the shorts in this collection, Natacha Thomas's film is the most obtuse, using a series of quick cuts displaying dark and twisted imagery instead of a straight-forward narrative. Nevertheless, the photography, cinematography and, yes, the editing (for which it won a prize) do all work together to produce what could be viewed as a very off-kilter music video.

ATTENTION dir Nora Unkel

If you encounter a demon, do your best to ignore it as it will feed off attention - wise words but difficult to follow when you are alone in bed, as one young woman comes to realise…

I'm sure a lot of people will be able to relate to the idea here - trying to ignore strange sounds as you're trying to go to sleep, rather than investigate them! This short has a couple of creepy visual effects, such as the slow appearance of a naked figure in the corner of the room and some good sound editing between the woman's headphones and the demonic growl.

BED BUG dir Zoe Holmes/Patrick McDonald

 A young woman wakes in panic - there's something wrong in the house, something she forgot to check before going to bed…but what?

Bed Bug works well in tandem to the previous short. However instead of doing her best to ignore the feeling of unease, our protagonist works her way around the house, checking doors and windows. The black and white photography and aspect gives the film a noirish look and again, I am sure many people will relate to the very real situation of having to check to make sure everything is secure.

BLOODHOUND - Dir Sophia Cacciola

Dracula finds himself trapped in the body of a chihuahua and adopted by a pair of vegan hipsters…

This is the most humorous of the shorts, in which a small doggy carries within him the essence of Dracula. The style reminded me of The Office, or Modern Family, where characters talk directly to camera as if being interviewed for a documentary. The small puncture wounds on the neck were a really nice detail.

Reptile House - Dir Tristan Risk

A man looking to buy a snake gets far more than he bargained for as he is drawn into a mysterious woman's home of exotic reptiles.

Tristan Risk's directorial debut is relatively straightforward but it does have the most fun and outlandish twist. It's a fun tale of one abuser's comeuppance when he's disrespectful towards a woman's pets.

The Curse - Dir Ellie Stewart

A young girl has her first period and is visited during the night by the Period Fairy

This is another good film which keeps you guessing where its heading. The young girl reminded me of Wednesday Addams and the design of the Period Fairy as a grotesque, grumpy mess was inspired.

Ticks - dir Chloe Carroll

Three hikers in the woods come a cropper when they run into some 8 legged creatures..

As a lover of creature features, this film had me screaming for more. It spends most of its running time with its three protagonists, the actual threat is almost an afterthought. I was also not impressed that such a short film needed to start in-media-res. The film does boast some very creepy special fx though.

Unsafe Spaces - Dir Connor Sandheinrich

A young woman, just finished her late shift finds a strange man standing between her and her car…

Connor Sandheinrich's film is a brilliant subversion of horror tropes. It presents us with a situation which, in an ideal world, should not be scary in the least. However the way the situation is presented it cannot help but instil a sense of danger and fear for the protagonist, a young woman merely walking to her car, worried about the guy hanging out nearby. Because the film is part of a horror anthology of course it brings a certain level of expectation: something horrible could happen at any moment - so that fear is deliberately heightened.

THE VERDICT

This was a very interesting competition run by ARROW and I hope that they do something similar in the future. My personal favourites out of this competition are the ones which took an everyday situation and heightened the fear factor - BEDBUG, ATTENTION and my favourite of all, UNSAFE SPACES.

MIKEOUTWEST

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPETITION, CLICK HERE.