PopHorror Let's Get Scared
After reviewing Karl Huber’s 2015 short, Zero Hour, we knew there was something special about the filmmaker. So when I stumbled upon his newest short, Dorset, I just had to check it out.
Although Dorset is indeed a featurette with a cool, creepy story, the four minute short is actually a way to show off some of the cool makeup and practical effects his new company, Crimson Hands FX, can do. Although the company was only made official this past January, they have already created this tense, eerie short, as well as several others under the name Blue Light Films. Not only is the tale told a spooky one, but it’s filmed all in one continuous take. I’ve never made a film, but I have tried to do things all one one shot. Let me tell you, these guys made it look easy. It was shot barely a month ago on February 13th, so the fact that they made it look this good so quickly is another prop to Huber & Co.
Dorset stars newcomer Sean Gloria, Linda Roser (C.O.O.L.I.O Time Travel Gangster 2014), makeup artist Sarah Jimenez, and the voice of The Song of Solomon’s David McMahon (The Itch, The Jerry Show). The short was written and directed by Karl Huber, who also did the amazing FX makeup, while Cinematographer Scott Sullivan was behind the camera. The short tells the story of an emotionless psychotic who brings his girlfriend to a remote location called Dorset to get kill her, on the advice of another guy who did the same thing a few months previous. What he didn’t realize was that Dorset has a bit of a supernatural legend surrounding it.
Dorset may be less than five minutes long, but in those five minutes, Huber packed quite a wallop. Even though half of the short was watching the back of a man’s head as he walked through the woods and talked on the phone, I was never bored. I knew what was going to happen and yet, I still jumped. The dead girl’s makeup was droopy and runny, exactly the way it would look after sitting in the Florida woods and rotting for weeks on end.
Dorset is one of those shorts that makes me proud to be a practical effects fan. There was no CGI involved – even the gunshots were practical. Even though the creation of the Decayed Girl’s mask took months and Sarah Jimenez had to sit in the makeup chair for over three hours for the prosthetic’s application, Huber knew that this was the best way to create a horror film, and that was what he set his mind to do.
Here’s your chance to see what I mean. The entire short is embedded below for your viewing pleasure. Let us know what you think of Karl’s FX abilities and the story of Dorset in the comments below!
https://youtu.be/vmLLy0W1cDk
