This year at Fantasia 2024, I had the chance to see some short films, and although I could not check as much as I wanted to, I was lucky that the ones I saw were very good.
And the short “Dirty Bad Wrong” directed by Erica Orofino, was not only good, but a great example of “Less is more”.
From the official synopsis:
Desperate to keep her promise to host the best superhero party for her 6 year old, young mother Sid, a sex worker, takes extreme measures and books a last-minute client with a dark fetish.
We don’t get nothing too graphic or extreme.. On the screen. However I’m sure in our minds, we are filling the gaps, and we know that whatever happened to be that client’s fetish was very gruesome. (there are hints, and they are not that hidden)
The story could be called a drama. I think it is more than fitting to file it as horror, and because I am sure that this could be just another bad day for somebody, and could be happening somewhere in our town, which is even more scary.
The film never seeks to justify Sid’s line of work, she never plays the victim, or looks for someone to blame. She just wants to fulfill her promise, and due to a simple careless moment, she finds herself in a very bad position, without time to find another way to come up with the money, forcing her to take a dark path that she had managed so far to avoid.
Would this be the only time? Or the beginning to a new, darker journey?
That was the question that was left in my mind, and made the ending scarier.
If you have the chance, check it out.
And I will be reviewing more films doing our remote coverage, so stay tuned!
