An exhausted Uber driver picks up a murderous one-star client. A bloodthirsty dog eagerly awaits the arrival of a no-good mailman. The world slowly materializes into a banana hellscape. At the 9th-annual 72-Hour Horror Film Competition, gruesome scares, shocking twists and absurd comedy met no creative bounds.
A 35-film slate of independent, locally produced short films played at Eugene’s Art House from Oct. 25 through Halloween. Each entry was scripted, filmed and edited within a designated three-day time frame and featured a mandated prop and line of dialogue. Despite varying levels of filmmaking sophistication, ranging from amateur to professional, each participating team delivered an imaginative horror experience.
While some films solely relied on typical horror tropes, namely gore, supernatural occurrences and experimental effects, others dipped fully into satire. While it might not have been the scariest night at the movies, the theater was more often than not exploding with laughter.
In the first film, “One Star,” the designated prop — a banana — immediately became apparent, acting as a prisoner’s gag. Throughout the night, bananas became a comedic throughline, typically playing a significant role in each plot. They are chucked, mashed, eaten and used as weapons. Anything you can dream of, Eugene’s filmmakers thought of it.
Every entry delivered an enticing line of dialogue: “Look what your brother did to the door.” Scratch marks, dripping blood and raunchy drawings are but a few of the brother’s curious antics. While some used it as a throwaway, others found innovative ways to weave the required line into the script — a fun parameter that cleverly linked each project together.
My favorite of the night, “Truant,” is a haunting critique of AI, particularly AI art. When three roommates discover an internet platform that can conjure a non-existent person, it produces slightly exaggerated, distorted images of their faces. Suddenly, they disappear out of thin air, lost in the aether. Not only does the film warn of the perils of AI, but it also criticizes AI art’s creativity-destructive effect.
Another standout, “Don’t Look,” was the most technically impressive of the night, sporting an eerie, dark-blue color palette and careful editing. The famed brother from the aforementioned mandatory line plays an ominous figure wreaking havoc in a house — his mother, slowly toiling away in the basement. If only it could have traveled beyond the competition’s designated runtime.
Returning for seconds, it was “Don’t Look,” filmmakers Michael Rucker, Mari Kenney and Jay Court’s second consecutive year entering a film in the festival after discovering the event on social media. Each a seasoned filmmaker, the team appreciates horror for the blood.
“Horror gives you a chance to toe on the dark side of things, the tension and the madness,” Rucker said. “Also, it’s fun and cheap to make.”
It was the trio’s first time viewing the other entries since the competition began, and they were excited to survey the field.
“I’m overwhelmed by the sheer talent and people coming together as a community,” Kenney said. “We’re all a bunch of horror nerds; we love this stuff; let’s fucking go!”
Suffice it to say they’ll attend this time next year for more silver screen spooks, and you should too.
