'Maggie May' (dir. Mia'kate Russell)
Review: Etheria Film Festival 2020 presents smart, terrifying & wondrous horror shorts
The 2020 film festival pivots to Shudder this year and features a smorgasbord of genre essentials.
(Shudder)
An important pillar in celebrating women filmmakers, this year’s Etheria Film Festival presents an outstanding roster of horror shorts ⏤ zipping from the homoerotic thriller to blood-soaked slasher to twisted Black Mirror-like fantasy. Each entry cuts to the core of their respective genres, often flipping expectations, discarding conventions, or totally mining new territory altogether. In previous years, the horror shorts were given a proper premiere extravaganza inside Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre. However, due to the ongoing global pandemic, the 2020 lineup pivots to streaming with a June 19 release date on AMC Network’s horror hub, Shudder; new users can sign up now for a 30-day free membership when using the ETHERIA promo code upon sign-up.
All users will be able to peruse these nine horror shorts, which run anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes in length, through July 20.
Below, B-Sides & Badlands offers bite-sized reviews of the festival’s whole shebang. Dig in!
Waffle (directed by Carlyn Hudson)
A backdrop of ever-fleeting human connection, this isolation thriller calls into question the meanings of friendship, and a technologically driven world strangles our ability for authentic connections. During a sleepover, Kerry tries too connect with Katie, a Waffle empire heiress, but she soon discovers that some people will exploit everything about you for their own perverse desires. Slick framework coincides with this unnerving fairy tale of two people simply trying to redefine their lives; and there’s a twist you won’t see coming.
Maggie May (directed by Mia’kate Russell)
Maggie May plays on the ever-slippery nature of apathy. It’s not that some people actively wreak havoc in their lives, but their slothfulness ⏤ in caring for people and doing what is right ⏤ ultimately causes mayhem to ensue anyway. The titular character wanders aimlessly through her life, never cleaning the dishes, refilling the cabinets with food, or attending to two screaming babies. Her self-absorbed nature soon erupts into a gruesome metaphor (“I didn’t do anything!” she snaps in the final frame) that will leave you speechless.
Basic Witch (directed by Yoko Okumura)
“Hex the patriarchy” reads the opening card. After a night of dreadful sex, a witch named Lily conjures up potion, masked as a pumpkin spice latte, for her totally oblivious, and a bit problematic, boyfriend. Its slow-burning, revelatory conversations about consent and blurred lines will light a fire under a particular demographic, and good, they should be uncomfortable. But what Okumura has done here is offer a tightly-pinned yarn around sexual assault; even Lily comes to realize that things she doesn’t like shouldn’t be things she’s obligated to do, even in a relationship.
The Conversion Therapist (directed by Bears Rebecca Fonte)
One of the festival’s boldest shorts, The Conversion Therapist centers around a pansexual, polyamorous trio who kidnap an evangelical preacher, known to spew hate toward the LGBTQ+ community. Through various methods of mental and physical torture (taking cues from very real conversion camps still operating across the country), they attempt to re-orient their prey and get him to confess to his own deeply-hidden secret. It’s a brashly-written story, but one that really packs an emotional punch.
Offbeat (directed by Myrte Ouwerkerk)
Set in a futuristic, smog-filtered world, one young man named Olly eyes big ambitions as a drummer inside The Dome, the location of every profession’s elite workers. But in order to enter, he, alongside four other contenders, must complete a series of very strange tests (from inkblot to Fight Club-style combat). Almost fitting within the same universe as Black Mirror‘s “15 Million Merits” episode, in which everyone constantly competes to move to the next level, Offbeat is a solid, if not wholly effective, sci-fi expedition.
The Final Girl Returns (directed by Alexandria Perez)
The Driver is stuck in a loop. Forever fated to save the Final Girl, he must learn how to break the cycle, confront his own destiny, and rewrite the ending. Slasher films have a particular formula, and Perez not only cooks up her own bloody recipe but adds in pinches of spice for good measure. The Final Girl Returns blends in a refreshing psychological component, swerving when you least expect it, and the thrill ride is more than worth it.
LIVE (directed by Taryn O’Neill)
LIVE leans heavily into concept rather than a distinctive story arc. O’Neill’s piece has plenty to say about the internet, YouTube culture, brand endorsements, and channel wars, yet it doesn’t quite stick the landing. One liver streamer, who has built an abrasive, hyper-sexualized fighter persona online, is beginning to discover her online life might be taking a toll on her ability to really live. The short takes place following an especially brutal warehouse fight, leaving her bruised and bloody, and her fragile mental state begins to crumble. Soon, she may have to sacrifice doing whatever it takes to meet society’s crushing demands.
Man in the Corner (directed by Kelli Breslin)
Arriving in time for Pride, Man in the Corner is a bizarro erotic thriller with body snatching and a quivering climax. Two lovers are in the throes of exploring their bodies when a third man, or so they think, pops into the corner. It’s an unsettling, nail-biting sequence, and the viewer is never quite sure what their seeing. Breslin toys with perceptions, illusions, and wild fantasies in such a way that’ll turn you inside out.
Ava in the End (directed by Ursula Ellis)
Ava in the End also calls to Black Mirror; this time, elements of “White Christmas” come to mind. After a woman trips over her dog and dies, her soul is caught in a pristine purgatory somewhere, and she must discover what life has in store for her next. It’s an existential setpiece that is as weird as it is emotional and devastating. In the end, what are we other than simply a cloud of atoms bouncing off one another until we extinguish? Ellis’ story, also underscoring the role of technology in our inevitable demise, is masterful and striking.
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