Short film: Paint the Town Red

Coming in at just the five-minute mark this short film from 2017 was directed by Christopher Andrew Graham and Ariel Hansen and does that thing that short films, when they work, do so well. What do I mean? This is a fine example of producing a story and characters in a short period of time. The characterisation develops through the clever use of stereotypes, acting and dialogue with a side order of broad-brush tropes that relay the story.

If not handled well it can feel cliched or, indeed, just poor. But when handled well (especially with some nice photography) a lot can be packed into a very brief amount of time.

unsolicited tickets

Andie (Allison Klause) and Josephine (Ariel Hansen) are a pair of friends who haven’t seen each other for a little while. They are having a night out together and Josephine reveals that she has tickets to the Club Hobbs Lunar eclipse Party – they came, unsolicited, to her mailbox. Andie asks what Club Hobbs is and Josephine has no idea but is utterly convinced it will be fabulous. When they arrive the doorman (Jesse Inocalla) asks for their names but they are not on the list – all is ok when Josephine reveals the tickets, however.

feeding

Once in the club Andie goes to the bar whilst Josephine nips to the Ladies Room. The bartender (Gigi Saul Guerrero) suggests that Andie looks delicious but, any issue she might have had with the strange greeting, melts away as she discovers that the first round is on the house. Meanwhile Josephine is in the bathroom and hears a sucking sound from a stall, she makes a disparaging comment as she leaves but we see blood trickling down one of a pair of legs visible under the stall-door. She walks past three people appearing intimate on a couch, we see two turn round, blood at their mouths, whilst the third has bloody wounds at the neck. Will the girls figure out what is going on?

Well the way to find out is to watch the short, something I’d highly recommend. The imdb page is here.