By Keri O’Shea
It’s always a pleasure to encounter a filmmaker who really ‘gets’ short films, and it seems like we’ve found such a fella in Colin Campbell, two of whose films we’re happy to be able to show you in our latest instalment of Horror in Short. The first, Dollface (2011), takes us a little out of the current season and to Halloween, where husband and wife Emily and Kyle are enjoying a decidedly non-spooky night in, playing a game of chess and chatting. A knock at the door heralds a trick-or-treater, so Nick gets up to go and dish out some candy…
More quirky than the next film we have to show you, Dollface is a lot of fun because it plays out like a modern, urbane fairy story – with none of the grisly or unsettling subject matter excised, of course. From the minute Emily goes in search of Kyle, she’s thrown into a mysterious and labyrinthine space which doesn’t play by the rules of the world outside, and boy does it work well. The interiors look good, are crowded with modern objects, but feel very much apart from the cosy night in which was so oddly interrupted. As for the characters we meet there, they are all ambiguous folk, whilst the neat punchline to this tale adds greater depth to that which has gone before.
Which brings us to the second short film, Girl at the Door, an altogether more visceral little film. If Dollface is a modern spin on the fairy story then Girl at the Door brings sex and drugs to the supernatural tale.
After a night of booze and illicit substances, architect Jake gets lucky, accompanying a very hot and very willing woman back to his place for a night of rough sex (and well done to Campbell for sneaking that sex scene past the Youtube police!) When he wakes in the morning, she’s already hit the road, so he gets back to his work. He’s surprised, however, when she turns up again that night, seemingly as keen as ever – but odd, somehow. What has he got himself into?
This is a film which gets a lot out of eleven minutes, but sticks with a relatively straightforward story, meaning it can balance its lascivious content with an excellent, escalating sense of unease. Absolutely key to this are the performances, especially the lovely Kristen Renton as Sofia. The lines she delivers are repeated, but she does good work at making them mean something else each time, albeit in a subtle way. This means the film feels properly sinister by the time we get our exposition, making this an interesting spin on a supernatural story, as up-to-date as Dollface.
In making everyday situations (well okay, maybe not everyday in the case of the beginning of Girl at the Door, unless you happen to lead a charmed life) become otherworldly, even ghastly, Colin Campbell shows real flair, and I hope to catch up with his other short films in the future. His films are economical, they understand pace and achieve a great deal. This promises plenty of good things.