1. Tell your story in a linear timeline (i.e. no flashbacks).
2. Don’t set any of your scenes outside at night.
3. Avoid dream sequences.

Why? Because these are difficult things to do well. Within the constraints of an independent film, they’re nearly impossible.

In the short film Via Dreams, director Rodney Wess tackles the idea of the dream sequence as reality and reality as a dream sequence. The result is a film that tries to be something grand and misses.

Claudia (Ann M. Lynn) argues with her husband about the rift in their marriage in the short film Via Dreams. ©2010 R.W. Films LLC.

Via Dreams centers on an estranged husband and wife who, during an argument while driving at night, hit a girl with their car. Roland (Harris Michaels) forces them to flee the scene of the crime, but Claudia (Ann M. Lynn) wants to notify the authorities. As the two begin to physically struggle, Claudia wakes up in bed. But she’s convinced that the events of her dream really happened and her husband is gaslighting her.

Independent filmmakers have to do everything on a shoestring budget. Unlike painting or writing, for example, the cost of producing a film is moderately prohibitive. Even a short film can be costly unless one does most of the work, as Wess has done by being writer, director, producer, cinematographer, casting director, editor, and lead light technician. Unfortunately, by taking so much responsibility, Wess may have let the production suffer.

Via Dreams was shot in HD. Even so, the film — much of which takes place at night — is hard to see. The night scenes are poorly lit, and there are moments when I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to be seeing.

The dialogue is awkward, which may be as much the fault of the actors as the writing. I never felt they were committed to their characters. The only exception to this was Lynn, who gave a decent performance considering what she had to work with.

The story is cliche, so much so that one of the characters explains what’s happening by comparing it to an episode of The Twilight Zone. Oh, if only.

Instead of being innovative, the story fails on two counts. First, it’s trite to have a character who wakes up from a dream wondering if they’re really awake (or if the dream was really a dream). Unless the director has something really interesting to bring to it, like Christopher Nolan did with Inception, it should be avoided. Second, when it does get around to suggesting a cause for what’s happening, the film doesn’t seem to follow its own rules. (I can’t say much more without giving away the entire story.)

Via Dreams is, quite simply, striving to be something great in a short time span. Within the constraints of a short film, however, the characters do not have time to develop. The pacing seems rushed. And the logic of the story ultimately falls apart.

Watch the Via Dreams trailer

When director Gerard Lough (Stolen Wings) told me he had adapted King’s short story “The Boogeyman” for a short film, warning bells started sounding in my head. I respect Lough’s work, but there are few filmmakers I would trust to adapt this story convincingly.

I needn’t have worried. Lough embraces the intamcy in this tale of a man confessing the horror of his children’s deaths to a psychiatrist.

As the story begins, Andrew Billings (Simon Fogarty) is explaining to Dr. Harper (Michael Parle) that his children’s deaths, though ruled accidents, were actually murder. At first, the film is dialogue driven, a conversation between the two men, but it soon flashes back to show how he lost them to the mysterious Boogeyman.

For a short story, “The Boogeyman” packs in a lot of horror. Lough’s film, too, leads the audience through some horrible revelations, as it becomes more and more believable that Andrew may not be crazy.

Something lurks behind the closet door in the short film adapation of Stephen King's The Boogeyman. ©2010 Arcadia Video

I’ll say this. Lough’s screenplay is very faithful to what I remember of the original. Most of the noticeable changes are for the sake of setting. In moving it from America to Ireland, nothing is lost, but the language does change a bit. The dialogue has a few Irish idioms that added authenticity to the piece.

Produced on a shoestring budget — I read it was made for 2000 euros — the sound quality is not quite perfect. But the directing is spot on. There’s a beautiful change in color when Andrew remembers his own childhood and the root of his fear of water. And the transitions after the first death of a child subtly reflect the passage of time.

If I had one complaint about the film, it would be that it didn’t show as much as I would have liked. Too often, the action taking place in the past was merely talked about in the psychiatrist’s office. In particular, the pregnancy of Rita (Joanne Cullen) after the death of her children was reduced to a mere phrase about knitting and eating pickles. I think it would have been nice to see her more.

Overall, I heartily recommend The Boogeyman if you get a chance to see it. This short film is an outstanding example of what independent filmmakers can do — even with limited means.

Watch the trailer

This odd short film by director Pierre Ayotte doesn’t tell a story so much as it tells a joke. The joke goes like this: “Imagine if, instead of having Sarah Conner fight Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cyborg killing machine in The Terminator, she had enlisted the help of Elvis.”

The story doesn’t tried to hide it’s obvious rip-off – I mean, homage – to The Terminator franchise. When Jean-Pierre Flayeux appears as the Massacrator, it’s a straight take from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, including beating up a biker and stealing his clothes and motorcycle.

The girl (Daniella Jovanovic) is first seen exercising – a routine (and costume) taken from T2, as well. Then, just when one might begin to wonder if the director is just reshooting James Cameron‘s script, it finally takes a turn and introduces Matt Monastesse as Elvis. A brief battle begins, and ends… well, I won’t spoil the fun.

Does it work? That depends on what you’re expecting out of the film. Hey, this kind of off-beat storytelling worked for Bubba Ho-Tep. But what made that horror comedy work (in part) was an amazing performance by Bruce Campbell. Massacrator has four minutes and no dialogue to make us believe that some version (is it a ghost? a time traveler?) of Elvis is here to save the day. It’s a hard sell.

Massacrator isn’t really a story. It’s a punch-out set to music. But if that’s what you want to see, you’re likely to find it amusing.

Check out the “trailer” via YouTube

A wizard tries to unleash stolen magic in Stolen Wings. ©2009 Arcadia Video

In the short film, The Stolen Wings, directed by Gerard Lough, a babysitter tells a bedtime story to a little girl who refuses to go to sleep.

The babysitter (Natasha O’Brien) tells her story in the sing-song rhyming pattern of many children’s poems. The fact that O’Brien has an Irish accent adds to the fairy tale quality of her story.

But as the story is spoken, the imagery that plays out is anything but childlike. Coupling live action with some nifty in-camera techniques (such as stop motion and light painting), this fairy tale takes a turn (as many do) that is dark and foreboding.

Complementing the story is an outstanding music track by Cian Furlong. The dreamy, fairy tale quality in the music is a perfect counterpoint to the not-so-innocent scenes being played out on the screen.

And while the story itself is a pretty rhyme, the short film itself lacks the same completeness that the fairy tale has. Instead, it teases the viewer with what I felt was an unsatisfactory conclusion. One could argue that the director has left us wanting more, but the story seems to end suddenly. Is it a hint of more to come or just a story left unfinished?

The production values of this film are about on par for a short film on a small budget. The sound quality with the actors is inconsistent, and the lack of quality lighting affects some of the storytelling. But, all in all, it’s a nice piece.

Stolen Wings also stars Michael Parle and Sasha Phillips.

You can view the short film for yourself on YouTube (see below). Check it out and let me know what you think of it in the comments section.

The Stolen Wings (Short Film)

Captain EO Tribute poster.

Captain EO, the classic musical spectacular that thrilled Disneyland park guests from 1986-1997, is now open at Disneyland. The attraction’s return to Tomorrowland provides new audiences the opportunity to experience the original 3D production for the very first time, as well as a nostalgic look back for longtime fans wanting to see “The King of Pop” in a rare performance created for the big-screen.

Twenty-three years ago, at the height of his phenomenal entertainment career, Michael Jackson joined forces with Disney, producer George Lucas and director Francis Ford Coppola to create a groundbreaking 17-minute 3D film experience starring Jackson as Captain EO performing two original songs, and featuring Academy Award®-winning actress Anjelica Huston, and a cast of merry, mythical space characters with dual personalities who undergo magical transformations to become Jackson’s electronic band in conquering the forces of darkness.

The colorful Disney-created characters include: Hooter, the little green elephant-like creature who sneezes wild musical notes through his flute-like trunk; Fuzzball, the orange-haired space monkey with butterfly wings; the Geex, a golden-haired, two-faced personality with two left feet, one right foot and two shaggy heads named Idy and Ody; Major Domo, whose mirrored silver costume becomes a complete set of drums, and Minor Domo with his sparkling purple torso that turns into an electronic synthesizer played by Hooter.

For all its technology, Captain EO is first and foremost a musical spectacular and a thrilling space-fantasy adventure. The realism of the 3D process will once again make it seem that Jackson dances right out of the screen into the theater. While it’s not possible to replicate some of the special effects elements from the original presentation, it will boast a new 70mm print of the film and sound better than ever thanks to acoustical enhancements made to the theater since the film last played there. The total effect is one of motion, color and high energy filled with Jackson’s musical brilliance and various illusions to create an exciting and realistic journey in space for the audience.

During the journey, Captain EO and his merry crew discover a colorless planet where they are confronted by the Supreme Leader (Huston) and her forces of darkness. Using the power of music, dance and light to fill the planet and the theater with all the shades of the rainbow, the EO crew turns the black and white land into a magical world of color and happiness.

Captain EO makes use of more famous-name talents than any other film of its length ever produced. The production called on Hollywood’s finest choreographers, set designers, costume creators and special effects artists – all of them excited by the challenge of shooting this kind of imaginative film in three dimensions.

Captain EO is presented multiple times daily at Disneyland.

The FilmGuru will be visiting Disneyland in early April. Look for a review of this classic 3D film at that time.

In this short film, the scene begins with a man and a woman chatting on a couch. It is clear that they have been on a date. The dialogue is filled with clichéd double entendres. The man is eager for things to advance to the next level, but the woman is demanding that he ask for his “dessert.”

The dialogue in this half of the film is not realistic. The play on words is too scripted to be an honest conversation between real people. This isn’t how people talk. This is how playwrights and poets wish people would talk. The only thing that comes to mind is “pretentious.”

After several minutes of uninspired repartee, the narrative ends and is replaced by three commercials for pantyhose. What the director was trying to achieve here isn’t a narrative. It’s a statement. From his own synopsis of the film, Connell writes:

The movie examines how an object of desire can be used to enhance humane (sic) values as well as subvert them … How that object of desire is utilized by the protagonists (and viewed voyeuristically by the audience) provides fuel for this thinking person’s film.

The film comes across as a school assignment rather than a legitimate attempt to tell a story or create a piece of art. While I can certainly respect what the director wanted to do, it wasn’t something that I could appreciate.

If horror films interest you, be sure to check out the Screamfest LA festival Check out the Web site www.screamfestla.com for showtimes and tickets.

Void promotional poster.

Void

In a small desert town, FBI Special Agent Liz Metera (Jennifer Christopher) is investigating a series of gruesome deaths. Her job is made more difficult by the fact that the bodies seem to be torn apart by an animal — something monstrous. As she begins to piece together the evidence of the latest death, she meets a young boy named Avery (Michael Len). His ill-tempered father may have information about how the victims met their unpleasant fate.

At first glance, Void seems like a cast-off episode of The X-Files. An attractive FBI agent, sans Mulder, is investigating unnatural deaths. She seems well-educated, and doesn’t flinch when she sees the remains of the body. But Agent Metera is more nurturing, more motherly, than Scully could ever be. Her fascination with Avery comes across as natural, not forced for the sake of story. Meredith Berg does a wonderful job of drawing the audience into a place that is both familiar and strange.

Sophie (Anne Gaelle Ponche) faces her fears in the short film Bad Mistake.

Bad Mistake (Mauvaise Erreur)

Sophie (Anne Gaelle Ponche) and her friends like to watch scary movies every Friday night. But Sophie is a bit jaded and doesn’t seem to find anything scary anymore. Then, one night, she is mistakenly kidnapped by masked men. The situation turns sour when the leader realizes that she is not the right woman. And so Sophie must now deal with the horror of her pending death — and see if she has what it takes to survive.

Bad Mistake is a fun short film. In a brief seven minutes, director Xavier Hibon manages to tell a good story quickly. Like a well told joke or fable, it sets up the story, establishes characters, and delivers the turn. When it’s over, the audience is shocked, and then comes to a realization of what has happened. It pays off generously.

The Familiar

If you’re a fan of workplace humor like The Office or Office Space, you will probably have a soft spot in your heart for Sam. As the titular character in writer and director Kody Zimmerman’s short film The Familiar, Sam (Torrance Coombs) has one of the worst jobs imaginable. He’s a familiar for Simon (Paul Hubbard), a 400-year old vampire. For Sam, this once sounded like a perfect job, especially considering the promise that one day he, too, might join the ranks of the living undead. But being a familiar is hard — and often disgusting — work. And after five years of it, Sam is having second thoughts.

Zimmerman manages to make Sam a sympathetic character. Sam narrates the tale, so we’re meant to see things from his sardonic point of view. With his pop culture references and his desire to advance in his career, he’s not particularly dark and brooding. He’s that guy who works in the cubicle next to ours. What makes Sam believable as a character is his voice. This is a character that knows what it means to suffer silently. The Familiar is a small film, but it’s well done with some surprisingly good effects. It may not always be laugh-out-loud funny, but it is amusing. And by the end of it, it has us cheering for Sam, too.

Dead Walkers

They say that the key to success in Hollywood is being able to sum up your film pitch in a single sentence. Well, you don’t have to think to hard to know that Dead Walkers is simply “The Old West… with zombies.” Yes, those beloved undead who have become all the rage in pop culture have finally invaded the typical Western — with not-so-surprising results. The story centers around a bounty hunter named Jack (Michael Shepherd), who has captured a couple of no-good types and is hauling them into the closest town so they can be put on trial. What Jack and his companions don’t expect is that the local townsfolk have been infected. A strange sickness makes them hungry for human flesh and very hard to kill.

Now, normally, I would look at a film like Dead Walkers and assume it didn’t have much to offer. After all, it’s a Western with zombies. That’s a pretty odd mash-up. But something about this short film from director Spencer Estabrooks grabbed my interest from the beginning. Maybe it’s the beautiful cinematography and outstanding makeup. Maybe it’s Shepherd’s portrayal of the rugged Old West bounty hunter. Or maybe — crazy as it sounds — it was the zombies. I haven’t seen a lot of zombie Westerns, and this film dared to be different. It’s amusing, action-packed, and leaves you wanting more. Not a bad way to spend 13 minutes.

Excision

Excision

Richard Bates Jr. writes and directs Excision, a troubled teen story that has more angst in its 18 minutes than any television show on the CW network could pack into a season. Pauline (Tessa Ferrer) is the black sheep of a small family that devotes all its attention and resources to her sickly little sister, Grace (Carly Hobson). In the absence of love from her parents, Pauline has become fascinated with surgery. Blood haunts her dreams and she practices her art on dead animals in the neighborhood. It soon becomes apparent that she isn’t just studying for med school. She has more immediate plans that involve her family.

While Bates could have given us a shocking and gruesome gorefest, his film takes a different road that serves to make it stand out. While he is not above showing us the bloody detail (as when Pauline is licking blood off a dead bird), his film is really about the family dynamic in a home where one child is ill. Call this a horror movie, call it a cautionary tale. I call it a winner.

Séance

Séance

In Séance, writer and director Robin Kasparik opens the door to the unknown with a Gothic tale of horror. Klára Jandová plays Maria, a young village woman who has the unique gift of speaking to the dead. When Richard (Pavel Nový) asks her to visit the Baroness, Maria is frightened. The Baroness is a reclusive creature who never has visitors. But Maria soon discovers that she is not being summoned by the Baroness, but to speak to her.

Kasparik has created a short film that reminds me of a tale by Edgar Allen Poe, one filled with greed, hatred and betrayal. It has the benefit of being shot on location in a 16th century palace. And, supposedly, the crew hired an expert in magic and magical language so everything is authentic. The result is a film that is both beautiful to watch and pleasantly creepy. While it is not as frightening (or surprising) as some horror films, it is a wonderful, haunting tale.

While we would have loved a chance to attend, that wasn’t in the cards. But thanks to Rachel Belofsky, we’ve had a chance to screen several of the short films being shown this year. Over the next few days, we will post some of our thoughts about the films — and may even feature a few surprises!

If you are in the LA area, Screamfest runs from Oct. 16-25th. The short film program is this weekend only — on Oct. 17th and 18th. For more information about the festival (and to get tickets) check out their Web site at www.screamfestla.com

To kick off the reviews, let’s take a look at Lazarus Taxon and Else, two short films from Europe that both deal with apocalyptic futures.

Lazarus Taxon

Lazarus Taxon

From Spanish director Denis Rovira comes Lazarus Taxon, a film that is beautiful in its bleakness. Set in a “probable future,” we watch as a father (Ariel Casas) rows a boat across a new sea to find a cure for his dying daughter. We see the father struggling to breathe and are told by one character that the land is sick, the result of global warming. But the circumstances of this post-environmental future are secondary to the heart-wrenching circumstances. Casas delivers a haunting performance as he crosses the sea with only his hope to guide him. But the solution for helping his daughter live on may have less to do with hope and more to do with resurrecting a long dead practice.

In this short film, Rovira offers something that is soul-sucking and terrifying because it could represent our future. Even so, he manages to challenge our notion of horror. He raises it to a new level, showing us that this genre can be more than death. It can also be life.

Else

Else

In Else, love and horror come together in a bizarre nightmare brought to life. The setting is France, where a poison cloud over the city is turning people into their surroundings. Betty (Caroline Breton) and Todd (Gilduin Tissier), two young lovers, have been quarantined in their apartment. As Betty stares out the window, morbidly fascinated by whatever is out there, she becomes frightened to discover it is staring back at her. Soon, she too is changing. But as Todd sees the woman he loves succumb to this plague, how far will he go to be with her?

Director Thibault Emin creates a grotesque and fascinating film that blurs the line between sexual fantasy and horror. While the premise seems fantastic, it challenges the audience’s notion of love in the face of an altered reality. Emin’s film is provocative and erotic, but also an artistic achievement.