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Review by Steve Hutchison


MY SKIN!

A woman is murdered by her husband on September 12th, 2001. She should have succumbed to natural death 64 years later. The Reaper does not appreciate this flaw in his plan. His sacred black book rarely lies and when it happens, the culprit must pay.

The Reaper incriminates George, the murderer, by falsifying his handwriting and signature. He converts an old love letter written by George to his wife into a threatening letter. Furthermore, he leaves George’s fingerprints on a loaded weapon which he places in a convenient location for the police to find.

Finally, The Reaper informs George via telephone of his activities and promises an infernal future.

My Skin starts out with a shot of the tied ankles and wrists of a woman who has plastic film wrapped around her head. She is dead: seemingly by asphyxia. It is the most graphic scene in the movie and it simultaneously helps to transmit what the film is about: a vicious murder.

We are then presented with a man, wearing black, who is visibly in a bad mood. He acts in a meticulous manner, sometimes reminiscent of an animal. His way of manipulating things, the way he talks and how he utilizes certain powers helps us understand that he is a human representation of The Reaper.

The film only has two actors. Tony Simmons interprets The Reaper in a special unfamiliar way. Tony uses intonation to give an effective performance. George (Cole Adam Buisson), for his part, has a regular voice but it is sincere.

The interesting zones explored by My Skin are, first of all, destiny and then the possibility versus the consequences of diverting its path. It would have been impossible to feature the ambiguity between good and evil in such a way in anything else than a short independent film (this one lasts thirteen minutes). In a society that distinguishes both, it is interesting to observe how The Reaper simultaneously wants to obtain revenge for himself and for the death of a person that he would have killed later on, when he felt like it.

The movie is filmed in an impeccable manner, considering its budget. It clearly demonstrates Christopher Alan Broadstone’s individuality and talent. His team is very effective. Let’s confront reality: this film is based on its dialogue; the characters and locations are kept to a minimum. Therefore, the public will have to judge the film on its principles. My Skin couldn’t have allowed itself to be any longer but should have given an additional explanation. Those who don’t grasp everything at first glance might have an unpleasant aftertaste because of this. Evidently, stories featuring The Grim Reaper dressed in black have been around for a long time. In this short presentation, we are rewarded with an up-close artistic view of the being.

While the movie contains multiple clichés, the techniques it uses to illustrate them combined with the general effort put into the feature helps distinguish My Skin from typical run-of-the-mill short films. I would like to see a longer adaptation if a decent budget could be secured. Christopher Alan Broadstone deserves all the attention he can get.

http://www.shade.ca/getarticle.asp?i=609
Review by Steve
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SCREAM FOR ME

Garrott tries to uncover the secret of life after death in the screams of his victims. He has assassinated women in the past but nothing has come out of it.

After strangling a woman to death in her own apartment, he is visited by a man even crazier than he is. The man, who has Madman tattooed on his bicep, knocks him out with a crowbar. He then proceeds to pummel him with kicks and punches.

The man came over to have sex and he isn’t going away empty handed. However, the man doesn’t screw dead people: he prefers the warmth of a living body…. Seems like Garrott is the only option left.

Times change. Not too long ago, men were teased for being homosexual: it was a common insult. Today, the flipside is true: homophobia is frowned upon. In my opinion, a phobia should be defined as an uncontrollable fear, not prejudice as is commonplace with the term homophobic. We only see the true meaning of this term after living through (or at least seeing) the events presented in Scream For Me.

Even madman (Tony Simmons), the rapist, tries to convince himself that he isn’t gay by disguising Garrott as a woman. He duct tapes his genitals, slaps a wig on his head and puts lipstick on Garrott while repeating his heterosexuality. Another thing that he constantly repeats is that he came over to have sex and he will be damned if he doesn’t. He considers these moments as preliminaries to sex, but we get the impression they are actions preliminary to death. It is an interesting concept to avenge the death of innocent victims with a doubly horrifying murder; to combat madness with an even more intense madness.

The film combines murder, rape, forced transvestitism and madness presented in nightmarish green and red lighting. For the simple reason that it pushes the limits of what we normally on screen, this short film deserves to be seen. When Garrott slaps, strangles and smashes his victim onto the ground, the combination of camera angles, the editing cuts and the sound make you forget you’re watching fiction.

As you have learned, this story is about rape. It requires an open mind to be fully appreciated. I personally enjoyed its interpretation of psychosis. During psychosis, thoughts, questions and theories zoom through your head, disguising reality. From what I can understand, this is what happens to Garrott and these aspects could have been developed further. The team that conceived Scream For Me seems solid enough to develop a longer film during which we would have the time to sympathize with the characters.

http://www.shade.ca/getarticle.asp?i=613