The weekend before last was a horror fan's "that time of the year" again and I hope you had the opportunity to read lots of spooky ghost stories, watch tons of gory films, decorate your house in various shades of orange and eat lots of candy on Halloween.
But autumn in Berlin is all the more special because each year the lovely team of Final Girls Berlin does a Halloween special to fuel up your horror tanks before the dark season really starts and it ends in a crazy masquerade where you can go wild, dress up in mad costumes and/or just be and enjoy yourself. If you have good dress-up and make-up skills, you might even win one of the super original prizes FGB has in store for you.
As for me, I don't need a prize as long as I can watch the short films. As is the case each year, there were some absolute gems in the selection this time too and here are my favorites amongst this year's Halloween shorts:
Family Horror
La mejor mamá del mundo
Melissa is a single mother and teaches philosophy in the middle school her son also attends. At some point she starts having nightmares and visions which leave her anxious and confused.
I know from my sister how hard it is to be a single parent and I can imagine that their absolute single biggest nightmare is perfectly encapsulated in this short, even though I wish a little more background were given as to the main character's condition.
Suddenly, the Night
Suddenly, the Night was so professionally done it left me flabbergasted! It's about a married couple who is trying to have a second child and failing miserably at it. They are under pressure to produce the second child as fast as possible because the little sibling will save their terminally ill daughter's life through a donation (I think she has leukemia but I'm not sure anymore).
This was so well executed! The visuals, the acting, the subtleties in the story - all of it was so perfect and professional that this could have easily come out of a big international studio. Especially the mother Elena's acting was seriously off the charts; her condition, her being torn apart between trying to take care of her own needs but, as it is when you're a woman, having to be in the position of the nurturer, of the producing machine, was so to the point! I'm speechless but in a good way.
Social Ills
Don't Let It In
A young Native American woman returns to her parental home after a divorce and faces an evil from her childhood. The final act of this shorty is so intense that I was seriously scared! The things you can do, the dread you can induce with simple tricks...
Hexatic Phase
Hexatic Phase consists basically of a brief phone conversation between a young woman and her mother, the former having had a traumatic sexual experience. While answering her mother's questions the young woman begins to melt.
This film was so sad, really, especially the conversation which consists of little more than "No mom, I didn't", or "Yes, he did" and the likes. I am guessing that many women know exactly what those questions are and what the mother is trying to do and what the young woman needs. Harrowing. Brilliant movie.
Horror Adjacent
So What If the Goats Die / Qu'importe si les bêtes meurent
Somewhere in the high Atlas Mountains in Morocco we follow shepherd Abdellah and his father who are out of goat fodder. Abdellah needs to go into the next town to buy some but must make the trip of more than a day on his mule. When he finally arrives, he finds the town is completely abandoned except for two people due to a happening that almost literally turned the whole world upside down.
Being of the same religious background as Abdellah and having at some point in my life inevitably pondered the same kinds of existential questions as him, this movie struck a special chord with me. I love how things that bear great importance are touched upon with brief glances, like the poverty and hardships the father and son have to endure; like the meaning of the photograph of a motorbike under circumstances under which a trip to the next town takes away a day from your life. I love the rather sparse use of effects for the happening, which still perfectly transmits that cosmic feeling of dread mixed with awe in the face of something that is too big for us to grasp. This is my number one film for the whole Final Girls Berlin Festival 2021!
Queer Horror
Going Steady
This is the story of a young woman living the seemingly perfect life of the 50s USA, but in her head things are very different.
Now, there's a movie unafraid to get tacky! This is the kind of spectacle that takes a situation to the extreme, leaving you speechless, but amused. Loved it!
Penance
Awesome, awesome short film on the horrible tradition of conversion therapy and the subsequent deserved revenge.
All of Them Witches
The Witch-showing was one that took place on Halloween night at the City Kino Wedding and it was so sweet with so many guests dressed as witches!!!! There was also a treat in it for us - the directors of three featured shorts (Ashely George for "Diabla", Michelle Coverley for "The Wick" and Cleo Spiro for "My Witch Roommate") were on stage for a little talk after the showing and told us about their work.
La Bruja del Fósforo Paseante / The Wandering Witch
In this artsy black and white awesomeness an older woman keeps on obstructing her son´s happiness in marriage in unusual ways, until she is challenged by a worthy opponent.
An epic final battle which brings two cats against each other, need I say more?
My Witch Roommate
It's not always easy living with a witch... Director Cleo Spiro explores the hilarious ups and downs of having an occult roommate in this shorty in such a fun way that I think if this were a series on TV or Netflix, I'd be addicted.
Midnight Mayhem
My Brother, Jeffrey
Such an adorable little story of a guy who avenges his brother Jeffrey - short, shocking, anything but boring!
Pizzaman
"Strange" is the word that comes to mind describing Pizzaman, really... An elderly couple whose son has been killed by a pizza delivery guy in a hurry, face past trauma when Pizza Heaven opens a branch in their town. Their plan to avenge their son's death goes rather wrong...
I still don't know what I have watched there; very crazy movie, very crazy acting and a very crazy end. I like it.
All of You
Oh, this one was so good! Two women visit a guru's relationship workshop and one of them, after mentally going through all of the possibilities presented to her, realizes that her worst fears aren't actually the worst that can happen after all. That ending was wholesome!
Strange Bird
Somewhere in my bookshelves there is a novella who is waiting for me to read it. Its title is Angel Meat and the cover features the author herself who has ripped out her own heart and eats it with gusto.
When I saw "Strange Bird" and saw in the end credits the name of its maker, it took me a while to realize it is the same name as that of the author of said novella, Laura Lee Bahr, and the woman eating her heart is the woman you see in the still above. I guess I have been waiting for that sign from the universe.
Strange Bird is the story of a woman, a phone operator who receives hate messages from some stalker. By the end of it, especially due to the fascinating grotesqueness of the end scene, I was so impressed that I vowed to read that novella as soon as possible and to keep an eye on the talented Laura Lee Bahr. I am guessing and genuinely hoping we'll be hearing a lot more from her.
Possibly in Michigan
The word gem doesn't even begin to describe Possibly in Michigan, it is something else entirely. Let's just say it is a musical horror story of two girls being pursued by a cannibal and it is very, very original. I don't even know how to begin to describe this one. It is free on YouTube, if you're interested in watching for yourself!
So, that was all for this fall, dear people! Don't forget to check out the Final Girls Berlin website, don't forget to donate, don't forget horror movies made by women!
It was a pleasure and see you again in February!
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