Tubi FrightFest Short Film Showcase 3

Grýlu Sker: An Icelandic Ghost Story (22 min)
Featuring stop-action, marionettes, and live action Grýlu Sker is a spectacular telling of an Icelandic tale. A sailor/explorer is shipwrecked on a remote island where he meets a man who is keeping a terrible secret.

Mixing puppetry, live action and animation can sometimes be a bit clunky on the eye. However with the SFX skills of Phil Tippett at their disposal director Kevin McTurk, and writers Tab Murphy and Icelandic author Sjón’s tale runs with smoothly and creates quite a vision that is for a big screen. (4 stars)
Director: Kevin McTurk

The Candle (9 min)
It's party time and while shopping for bits and bobs a couple come across a curiously shaped candle. Priced at 30¢ a 99¢ store they take it. What follows when they get home and light the candle probably has no deeper meaning than the cake the plant it and light. Very bloody and quite funny. (3 stars)
Writer and director: Ren Ariel Sano

Vape Glow (6 min)
Very cleverly filmed POV about a man finds that his recalled vape has a light. Trouble is the light only works when the vaped is being sucked. A power cut means that he must make much more use of his vape than usual as he makes his way through a holiday rental. Technically brilliant but not much substance other than a dig a vapers. (2 stars)
Writer and director: Steven Schloss

Inheritor (14 min)
A grey area of folk, psychological and cult horror as a young woman is preparing for a tree ritual with the other members of the cult. Lots of symbolism, dreams and bleeding bark and great production values but little of substance by the end of it. (2 stars)
Director: Ryan Lilienfield

The Chosen (9 min)
A boy who commits violent acts because he claims to see and hear things that encourage him to do them. No one believes that it could be an external force. His life is a complete mess and then there’s the new therapist. The clever build up to an extraordinary ending suggests that there’s more than meets the eye here. Superficially satisfactory. (2 stars)
Director: Brady Richards


Dread (3 min)
A patient in a hospital room awaiting the news of an accident is just far too short and while there’s no great mystery it looks and feels throwaway. (2 stars)
Director: Leonardo Benericetti

Udders! (6 min)
A terrified man running what looks like his life sporting huge cow udders is finally captured. This is bizarre and unpleasant and I’m guessing supposed to be as a satire on the excesses of the farming and food industry. On the nose. (3 Stars)

Director: Michael Spencer

Skinned (6 min)
With her partner having removed his condom during sex, without her permission she feels betrayed. His pathetic attempts to dismiss and reassure her don’t. The trust is gone and so has the evening which ends in a very strange way. It’s all in the title in this cautionary tale about trust and confidence in your partners. (4 stars)
Director: Alee Ruggieri

Man Eating Pussy (12 min)
The tile maybe does this film a disservice as this is a far more sensitive film than that schlock title would suggest. A lonely man nearing death looks for comfort and compassion in the arms of an understanding prostitute. Taking away the body horror this could latch onto the debate who has the right to tell anyone when to die in particular when they are at end of life care. (4 stars)
Director: Lee Lawson

No.3 (13 min)
A man with a desperate need to pee is caught out in the open highway. He can’t go in the desert as he has anxiety issues. Stopping a gas station the attendant is very reluctant to let him use theirs because of previous issues. In the end he relents and of course wishes he hadn’t. This is a mite predictable, but you get carried along with the flow, so to speak and the bizarreness of it all. (4 stars)
Director: Joe Heath