Don’t Look Down

Hangry: bad tempered or irritable as a result of hunger; also the title of the most recent short film from UK Indie writer/director Daniel Harding. Fusing classic horror elements with a modern twist (and adding a few dashes of macabre humour), a posh British couple, Clarey (Sophie Dearlove) and Boyd (Neil James), are taking a trip away from the stresses of their big city life, though, along the way, get lost in the countryside. Both a bit peckish, a surly, ornery attitude begins to seep into their conversation – I am quite sure we have all been there before.

Indie darling Greta Gerwig makes her solo writing/directorial debut with Lady Bird, a coming of age film that has been building strongly towards the 2017-2018 Awards season. . . earning an almost unheard of rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Many of the plot points will sound familiar when it comes to a coming of age tale – teen angst, strife between mother and daughter, obsession with sex and losing your virginity, first love, applying for colleges, joining the school theatre club, crushes on teachers and other such things; though, it is not these things that are truly important, but rather the honest, realistic voice in which it is told.

Come with me, and you’ll be, in a world of pure Ozploitation. Had you going there, didn’t I?. . . you thought I was going full Willy Wonka, but rather, I am transporting you to a very different landscape, that of the Australian exploitation film. Growing out of the R rating after it was instituted (as well as helped by new tax cuts), this Australian New Wave rose out of the 1970s and 80s (a little later than its American counterpart), and is a broad term that refers to no specific genre, encompassing horror, comedy, sexploitation, post-apocalyptic, dystopic and so much more – though it does slant the traditional norms of culture at the time. It is hard to argue that the Mad Max franchise, directed by George Miller, would not be the best known example of this type of movie.

Imagine being wakened by a bright light, not like that of some sort of alien abduction, but rather as if someone was snapping your photo, with the flash on, in the pitch black of your own bedroom. . . well, that is the concept of the 2015 short film Polaroid. Produced, directed, filmed and edited by Alex “Pressplay” Wohleber, it is a vignette of sheer terror. Waking from the bright light and distinct sound of a Polaroid picture being taken, our lead, simply known as Guy (Matt Halpern – also a producer), not only finds himself in a possible robbery situation, but also quickly learns that the electricity in his home isn’t working.

It is likely that this sounds familiar: a movie about a group of people who enter an unusual strip club that ends up being packed with vampires – I would fashion a guess that most film afficionado’s would immediately point to the now iconic Quentin Tarantino penned (and executive produced), Robert Rodriguez directed 1996 horror feature From Dusk Till Dawn. . . though this concept was actually first done a decade earlier in the 1986 horror comedy Vamp. Producer Donald P. Borchers came up with a simple idea, ‘vampire strippers’, and decided to take it to a young filmmaker with only one well respected short film to his name – Dracula Bites the Big Apple, Richard Wenk (now a well respected screenwriter who has penned such films as 16 Blocks, The Equalizer, the remake of The Magnificent Seven and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back), who expanded the idea and took on the role of director as well.

Human nature is fickle. For all the good things that come with it, there is a belief, even a drive, to be right. Perhaps best termed a stubborn streak, we feel that we alone can have the appropriate perspective on an issue, leading to countless gripes between neighbours or amongst family members. It is likely that, if we travelled back two thousand years, Ancient Romans would be having similar tiffs in which both believe they are in the right. It is this scenario that comes to life in the absurdist 2017 short film Punch Bag, a dark comedy with a unique vision. Written and directed by Daniel Harding, the narrative follows Naomi (Ingvild Deila), a woman who finds herself in one such similar situation, disgruntled with the intrusive noise of her neighbours. Finding a striking yellow and red pamphlet that offers aid for such matters, she waits outside the business office, growing more hesitant to enter after hearing the lopsided row going on inside.