Short Film

Short Films: Treevenge

It’s hard to know what to say about a short film as funny, gory, mad and wonderful as Treevenge.

The short, clocking in at about 16 minutes, is a couple of years old and comes recommended by a sackful of film festival awards, including an honourable mention at Sundance and audience-fave short at Torronto After Dark, as well as Best Short from Rue Morgue magazine.

I can see why!

The premise, though nothing especially inventive, is enjoyable and clearly gave the film-makers enormous scope to have some fun. It’s Christgmas, the goose is getting fat, and all over Canada Christmas trees are being butchered by chainsaw-wielding, slack-jawed lumberjacks intent on inflicting maximum pain on the poor trees. After a very funny opening with snarling mencutting up hilariously subtitled and squealing trees, we see the trees brought into the typical family home, ready for the “best Christmas EVER!”

I think you know what follows. Several minutes of top-notch, tongue-in-cheek, laugh-out-loud slaughter, splatter and gore as the enraged trees go on a killing rampage, wreaking havoc upon their would-be tormentors.

It’s gory, it’s funny and it’s beautiful. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The whole thing, in it’s 16minute glory, is available to watch on youtube here, or embedded below. I *presume* Yer Dead films don’t mind it being there, and I can’t see any purchase details on their website.

Treevenge Website
Yer Dead Productions Inc. website.

The Best Laid Plans...

…can go somewhat awry.

February started well but suddenly it’s the 16th and I haven’t posted in nearly 2 weeks. Damn. That wasn’t meant to happen. All sorts of other things (real life!) got in the way for a bit; but there’ll be some good new posts up soon. I’ve promised a WomenInHorrow post on Emily Booth, I NEED to write about Birdemic (the world’s best worst film) and a whole host of other things I’ve watched.

For now, I shall just point you in the direction of Paula Haifley’s website. Paula was, amongst her fellow students,“the only student to make a thesis film featuring a disembowling”, which is - quite frankly - easily reason enough to check out her website and her rather awesome short ‘Movie Monster Insurance’

More info on this page!

Teleportal

From Nuisance Films comes two fabulous minutes of blood-drenched splatter horror. Though the fiom does cram a fair amount into it’s tiny running time, I shan’t say an awful lot here… save to say there are zombies, videogames and heaps of blood.

This was made for an ever-so reasonable £80 by Paul Shrimpton and Alex Chandon. Paul has previously won the Zone Horror ‘Cut!’ short films competition (with the, also excellent, ‘Hung Up’) and this film is definitely a film worth several watches. I just hope he makes something longer soon!

On-set photos (make up fx by Graham Taylor)