Review of the Long In Tooth Short Block – FGBFF 2019

It’s always so exciting to crack open a new bunch of horror shorts. That’s why I always jump at the chance to review them in short block chunks for film festivals. While some may not recognize the bite-sized sweetness that comes with a one act horror bomb, I can’t get enough of them. It was a no brainer when it came time to pick what I wanted to review for the 2019 Final Girls Berlin Film Festival… I had to have a short block. Picking the one about older folk seemed natural as well, since I am the old fogie of the PopHorror writers. So, without an further adieu, here’s my review of each of the shorts from the Long in Tooth Short Block from the 2019 Final Girls Film Festival.

The Old Woman Who Hid Her Fear Under the Stairs (2017)

Synopsis:

An old woman (Sara Kestelman: Zardoz 1974) finds a way to remove her fear and she stashes it in a tin under the stairs. At first, she enjoys her new found freedom from anxiety, but when she notices a stranger (Razvan Muraru: Three In A Boat 2010) watching her house, the fear under the stairs becomes harder and harder to ignore.

The Woman Who Hid Her Fear Under The Stairs, the first short in the Long In Tooth Short Block, was written, directed, edited and produced by Faye Jackson (Strigoi: The Undead 2009). The upbeat, jazzy drum opening and the African bluegrass sound of The Golden Gate Quartet singing “God’s Gonna Cut Them Down” shoots a positive vein through an anxiety-riddled short, making it all feel a bit off-kilter. This poor woman is locked in her own mind, her fear ruling her life. The noises her fear made from its prison inside the cookie tin made me feel a bit bad for it, though, especially after what she does to it. But hey, it’s fear. Can’t have that lying around.

You can read another PopHorror reviewer’s more indepth thoughts on the short here.

 

Grammy (2015)

Grammy is a tiny little short – just over a minute – but it packs a real punch to the gut. Directed by 42 Counts’ Jill Gevargizian (read our interview with her here), this short follows a sweet little girl (Hala Finley: Man With A Plan TV series) who wakes up in the morning at her Grammy’s house and, naturally, begins to call for her. Grammy (Marilyn Hall: Wytch 2016) answers that she’ll be right down, as soon as she puts her face on. After watching this short, you’ll never think of that expression the same way again. The FX were amazing in this short! I think I might have seen a little robotics involved? A great play on words and bloody besides.

 

Centrifugado (2017)

Translated to Spin, Centrifugado is a Spanish short with English subtitles that was directed, written and edited by first time director Mireia Noguera. A young man (the late Rikar Gil: The Ministry of Time 2015) waiting for his clothes to wash at a local laundromat can’t help but give a hand to an elderly lady (Matilde Fonollar: Nuestros gusanos no serán mariposas 2016) in need, an action the leads to him roofied and unconscious in her laundry-strewn living room. When he wakes up, he’s terrified and tries to leave. The twist, however, is that this is not the young man’s horror tale at all. It’s a tragic story that continues on, repeating, spinning, day after day, for all involved. It’s quite a depressing short but it’s the one that sparked the most emotion from me out of the Long in Tooth Short Block.

 

La Proeza (2018)

Written and directed by Isaac Berrocal (La dantesca escene 2011), La proeza (translated to The Feat) is the last film in the Long In Tooth Short Block. It is yet another Spanish language short that follows a “a young girl who goes to a remote village anchored in the postwar period to carry out an illegal process in Black Spain.” She thinks the horror ends at the procedure itself, with the creepy women who perform it in a dirty basement on top of what looks like a kitchen table. But when she wakes up, she realizes that these women have much more in mind for her and her baby. Seeing said baby made my heart sink, and I cringed at the thought of what these women would do to it, although it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. And those young women chanting was eerie as hell. The idea that women in history would have to go through similar situations (although hopefully with different endings) is terrifying enough without the outside influences.

 

I Am Albert/Je suis Albert (2017)

Directed by Aurélia Raoull (Romantik 2016), this two minute short stars Marie-France Franck (La mort en face 1973) as Grand Mere, Cécile Dominjon (The New Adventures of Cinderella 2017) as Alice and Guillaume Monfraix (The Endless 2017) as Jean. There was no synopsis for this one and I’m almost glad because I’m not sure I would have watched it if I knew what was going to happen. Two adults visit their grandmother just before Christmas and bring her a gift – a sweet little dog named Albert. Unfortunately, Grand Mere has a violent side, and when her grandchildren leave, she goes after her new fluffy white “mop.” The ending is ambiguous, so it’s not clear what happens to Albert or Grand Mere. I can only hope that the pup survives the credits. This short was supposed to be light and maybe even funny, but the idea of an animal getting hurt overrides all other thoughts for me. I wish I could ask Director Aurélia Raoull what happened to set my mind at ease.

This wraps up our review of the Long In Tooth Short Block from the 2019 Final Girls Berlin Film Festival. Have you seen any of the shorts above? What were your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!