Welcome to Camp Nawgnamakit! (get it?) Come sit by the fire and be seranaded with tales of the tragic tale of revenge that is The Bloody Ballad of Squirt Reynolds! One of our favorite short films of last year has finally arrived for view courtesy of Antrum.
Directed by Anthony Cousins
We caught this film at the 2018 Portland Horror Film festival, and instantly fell in love with this super brief (8 minute) short film that captures the essence of the early ’80s slasher genre, tongue firmly placed in cheek. Every little touch is spot-on. The shaggy hair. The too-tight tee shirts. The summer camp setup. The coming-out-of-nowhere casio keyboard. The lesbian make-out session… wait, was that a thing in the ’80s? It a joyous ode to the B-movie staples of the time.
A little revenge film at its core, this little ditty proves that perhaps the best medium to satirize and evaluate the ’80s slasher film is the short film. Spend too long in the satire of a film like this and you risk becoming part of the joke yourself. Squirt Reynolds manages to identify the key elements and get out before it stretches on like a Saturday Night Live sketch that hangs on too long. It understands both the appeal and the crass goofiness of the campfire slasher film.
The campfire victims are Nathan Hoffman, Daniel Hoffstrom, Justen Jones, Lana Mattson, and Briana Patnode. Lincoln Danford plays the unfortunate young Squirt Reynolds and Tim Herkenhoff plays the monstrous adult Reynolds.
It’s totally cheesy, but kind of like a cheesy single bite snack. For fans of the sub-genre it’s a must watch. I rather think that slasher fans like their cheese.
Alter looks like it is going to be one of the best repositories of quality horror short films, as there are a number of our favorites also on their YouTube channel. Many of the short films we have loved and posted including We Summoned a Demon, The Dollmaker, Meow, The Armoire, Death Metal, and the Hidebehind all have migrated to Alter’s YouTube page. For our friends who are short film makers, this site looks like a popular resting spot for your short films once you are ready to promote them for streaming after the festivals are done. I’m not sure if they come to you, or you go to them, but this certainly seems like a great short film aggregator for the genre.
The full short film is included right here: