In a quite unique addition to the Comedy Festival, filmmaker Jaymie Wilson, along with some assistance from his friends at Troma Films, has put together a mini film festival celebrating ultra low budget short films from both here and overseas. Equipped with some complimentary popcorn, we pulled up an armchair to witness some hilarious splatter action (it was the Troma special I had attended after all).
Kicking things off was the introductory video created by Jaymie and his team. It began with a segment where various comedy celebrities endorsed the show while having no clue as to Jaymie was or what the show was about. We were then transported to a morgue where Jaymie’s corpse lay on a slab. Add two bored cleaners to the scene and plenty of internal organs, this ensured that wackiness ensued.
Jaymie popped up on stage to provide links between the films. He even did a spot about a list of the ten worst films of all time, inviting the audience to guess them. Only one punter got one right (“Battlefield Earth” at number 8) and was rewarded with Jaffas. I don’t know whether I should be pleased or disappointed that my pick “Ishta” had been knocked off the list!
The first film proper for the evening was the first of two episodes of “Kung Fu Kitties: Paws of Fury” (directed by the crew at EmptyV www.emptyv.org ). This was a riotous combination of chop socky movie and video games asthetics where we got to see some kittens beat each other senseless. I personally got a kick out the many video game referenced throughout. The next film was “The Incredible Torture Trio” which was directed by James Ojala which was a set before a television camera crew in a motel room. The guys would constantly up the extreme stakes when the reporter continually commented “I’ve seen that before!” It was definitely not one for the squeamish.
The next up was a pair of films from local director Tony Dompovic. “The Chronicles of Captain Australia” told us of the adventures of a very Aussie superhero with his own set of priorities. “Gourmet at Gunbower” was a lifestyle show segment where the guest demonstrated how to blow up plastic bottles with Hydrochloric Acid and Aluminium. Between most of the films, we were treated to some public service advertisements illustrating the dangers of Marijuana (courtesy of the guys from EmptyV). These spots showed all the stereotypes with amusing results.
After the final episode of “Kung Fu Kitties”, the final film of the evening was “Working Stiff” by Jesse Kerman This told the tale of a Video Store clerk who endured continual rejection from the girl of his dreams and the many attempts to end his life (where is that Grim Reaper when you need him?). Through it all, he still kept showing up for work! This was a great showcase of some funny although quite disturbing films. The final show will be a ‘best’ of screening where you can either relive your favourites or discover some of these gems for the first time. See Insert Name Here for details.