BITS 2017: ‘I Make Corpses’ – Short Film Review

I sat down to watch the short film I Make Corpses for the Blood in the Canadian Film Festival with the knowledge that it included a serial killer and zombies and that’s all I needed. Not knowing what to expect, I dove in headfirst and it was an interesting ride.

At a modest eight minutes and forty-one seconds, it was just a nice bite-sized horror short. It was written and directed by Kyle Martellacci and starred Bradley Hamilton as Ben, a serial killer who does the making of said corpses. He has continued his killing through an unfortunate (but lucky for him) zombie outbreak that hasn’t felled humanity but has most certainly made it easier to get away with his kills.

But, one unfortunate night, after he has gotten lazy about disposing of his victims’ bodies, his actions come back to haunt him and get their own revenge.

Martellacci had a very distinct look in mine when making this short film, but the style seems to jump in multiple directions. I can’t tell if he’s taking inspiration from 70’s Grindhouse with its gritty filming and wonky stop-motion feel kill shots, channeling Dario Argento with his bright and saturated color lighting or Creepshow with its comical creatures and end scene. Or perhaps it’s all of the above.

While the acting and dialogue won’t win I Make Corpses any Oscars, I loved the lighting in this movie. With a heavy lean on a mixture of red and blue lighting in scenes, it was reminiscent, at least to me, of watching old 3D movies in the 80s and 90s.

Back then to see the 3D aspect, the glasses were a combination of red and blue film, allowing you to see the dimensions while simultaneously screwing up the color for the entire 3D sequence. Oh, how times have changed. Most of the lighting relied on the red/blue mixture however, a bright splash of green lighting was added at the end and made a nice toxic environment for the antagonist to get his comeuppance.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I Make Corpses was a really interesting short film. While I have seen scarier and funnier shorts in the past, visually this one was really enjoyable and as long as it’s not taking itself too seriously, the kills and gore is silly and fun. While there are hints of the disturbing aspects of the character’s obviously fractured mind outside of the addiction to killing, it’s mostly just tone and setting a strange and ominous mood.

All in all, not a bad way to spend eight minutes.

Want more short films reviews? Check out one starring more notorious serial killer, Michael Myers, and you can watch it here.