I rarely review shorts (I just mostly recommend them). However, this Fantasia 2024, I saw several synopses that got my interest and made me think: “Why the hell not??” The first one to draw blood is “Hell is a Teenage Girl”, written and directed by Stephen Sawchuk.
I want to cut to the chase, so let me copy/paste the official synopsis and jump to the best stuff!
‘HELL IS A TEENAGE GIRL’ OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:
Every Halloween, the small town of Springboro is terrorized by its resident SLASHER – a masked serial killer who targets sinful teenagers that break ‘The Rules of Horror’ – don’t drink, don’t do drugs, and don’t have sex! At the center of it all is Parker Campbell, the Slasher’s estranged biological daughter. In an attempt to clear her name and make things right with the town, Parker sets out on a life-or-death mission in hopes of ending his reign of terror once and for all…
Ok,
Let’s dig in!
I really liked this short. And I was surprised that it went for a serious route, when I am sure that other directors would take a comedic route, if not plain parody. This is a straight-up Slasher, and a good one at that!
Being only 15 minutes, it is understandable that a lot of background information could not be explained, but I think Stephen Sawchuk gave us all the information that we needed to understand Parker and her struggles. She is very likable, and it was cool to see that even when her life is a social living hell, she is not bitter at the whole world and nor wants to see it burn.
If anything, she wants to see only her father burn.
I think this could be expanded into a full feature, but it would need a lot of caution to not pad the plot with useless fillers or exposition. It would be tricky, but I am sure that we could see some moments of the original massacre that started the whole thing, without stealing the spotlight from Parker’s story.
(sidetrack, Funny that Parker’s best friend’s name is Reilly… any Marvel fans out there?)
I think is fair to point out that the short is very grounded, and very subtly states a fact that several movies in the action and horror genre tries to ignore:
A girl of around 5’5 and 115 pounds could not take on a Psychotic Killer with her fists alone. (Hey, don’t hate me, this information can save your life!!) And, if she could survive such an encounter, it would be by using her brains and setting up traps (Shout out to Nancy Thompson!), using firearms, or by being assisted by another person.
Surprise factor would be another good strategy. I hope you are taking notes.
I liked the design of the Killer, and I am hoping that one day we get to hear about why he did what he did back in the day when he did it. If a full feature is not possible, how about a series of shorts?
If you have the chance, check this short. I highly recommend it.
PS- Also, IF you have a chance, look for a short I recommended a looooong time ago (in Spanish) called “The Night Of The Slasher” it has a similar premise, but in this case, it was a great homage and parody to the slasher genre.
Please note that I am not comparing these two shorts, but using them as an example that you can take a premise that is already seen (or even tired) and have a great story if you put your unique style and passion into it.
In other words.. do you have a cool idea? Do your best to bring it to life!
And I will be reviewing more films (and Shorts) doing our remote coverage, so stay tuned!
