Shorts Round Up of the Week: Happy Halloween

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Felix Vasquez

Happy Halloween one and all! It’s the final hours of Halloween 2019 and it’s been quite the month. I felt I’d be remiss if I didn’t include another Shorts Round Up of the Week featuring some great horror shorts you can dig your teeth in to before Day of the Dead on November 1st. Included is a tale of a spooky cookie jar, a series of loft crimes that goes bat shit insane, and a serial killer targeting vulnerable young girls.

As always if you’d like to submit a short film or two (of any genre), submissions are always open!

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The Bootleg Files: El Sartorio

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 706: “El Sartorio” (1907 Argentine porn film).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: I have no idea – maybe in an anthology of old smut flicks.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: The underground nature of early 20th century porn resulted in endless bootlegging.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not as a standalone, and probably not in a documentary on Argentine cinema.

The most widely seen film produced in Argentina was not one of Leopoldo Torre-Nilson’s political dramas or the Oscar-winning gems “The Official Story” and “The Secret in Their Eyes.” Instead, it is a smutty silent short of a mysterious origin that has gained contemporary notability for being among the oldest surviving examples of pornographic cinema.
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The Bootleg Files: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Epilogue

Posted on October 18, 2019 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 705: “2001: A Space Odyssey, Epilogue” (2019 fan film).

LAST SEEN: On Vimeo.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Borrowing from classic material without permission.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Negative.

Last week, this column featured a merry little fan film that mashed up the Abbott and Costello and Superman franchises. This week, we are focusing on a new fan film that has quickly become the talk of social media.
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Shorts Round Up of the Week: Halloween Horror Month Edition

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Felix Vasquez

It’s October once again! Finally! It’s our favorite time of year, a time where we can drown in horror and genre cinema without coming up for air. For the return of “Shorts Round Up of the Week” I bring you the Halloween edition, where I review short films of the horror, thriller, and dark fantasy variety. Hopefully we can dig up a second edition of this column before the month is up.

If you’d like to submit your short film for review consideration, submissions are always opened to filmmakers and producers.

Happy October, boils and ghouls.

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The Bootleg Files: Abbott & Costello Meet Superman

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 704: “Abbott & Costello Meet Superman” (2015 fan film).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It’s kind of obvious what is going on here.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: They’re lucky that Mike the Cop doesn’t arrest them.

Fan films often represent a victory of enthusiasm over talent, with aspiring Spielbergs getting carried away with their mania over popular film franchises. For the most part, these films can be accepted as charming – a few are actually quite polished thanks to an intelligent use of digital effects.
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Surfeurs (2011)

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Phil Hall

Two men – one is an experienced surfer, the other is a neophyte to riding the waves – are playing about on an isolated beach. They have a game where the experienced surfer buries his friend neck deep in the sand, timing how long it will take him to escape. It isn’t much of a challenge, as the buried man easily liberates himself. The experienced surfer takes his turn being buried neck deep in the sand – but he is unable to dig himself out. Rather than allow his pal to free him, he goads him into surfing in strong high tide waters. But the inexperienced surfer is knocked unconscious by a massive wave and the buried man watches in horror as the tide rushes to the beach and threatens to submerge him.
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Shorts Round Up of the Week: The Fantastic Shorts of Fantastic Fest 2019 [Fantastic Fest 2019]

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Felix Vasquez

Fantastic Fest 2019 has come and gone once again and we were lucky enough to take in some of their line up from this year’s festivities. There was some damn good short films at the fest this year, and we thought we’d spotlight the line up that played as “Fantastic Shorts,” “Short Fuse,” and were “Paired Shorts” with feature films in the festival. The festival had no shortage of genre shorts; if you’re ever near a film festival or are attending one, be sure to look out for these titles.

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Hellarious (2019)

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Emilie Black

In this anthology, seven short films are gathered together to create a fun, humorous, and bloody collection. The short films included here are Killer Kart by James Feeney, Horrific by Robert Boocheck, ‘Till Death by Jason Tostevin, Death Metal by Chris McInroy, Bitten by Sarah K Reimers, Born Again by Jason Tostevin, and Lunch Ladies by Clarissa Jacobson.

The films included here are all high production values short films with some hitting better than others. Of course, as they are festival circuit darlings, some of them have already been reviewed at Cinema Crazed. So let’s start with those and their previous reviews.

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