Scalarama 2015: Short Stack Fan Film Special

Predator Dark Ages

Fan films, as the name suggests, are films created by fans inspired by films, books, comics, TV shows or similar sources. The event hosted seventeen of the best local, national and international shorts, from micros under a minute in length, to the crowdfunded Predator: Dark Ages.

Claymation artist Lee Hardcastle (The ABCs of Death II), who remakes well-known films within under a minute, contributed four great shorts: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eraserhead, The Evil Dead and The Exorcist. His hugely popular YouTube channel showcases more of his work, in which he not only remakes the film in clay, but also adds his own hilarious narration.

Another filmmaker to have several shorts shown on the night was Patrick Boivin, the Canadian director who’s had massive success in remaking Marvel films with a baby as the lead. His films Little Antman, Ironbaby and Dragon Baby, all of which screened, have combined YouTube views of almost 100 million.

Inspired by classic eighties Japanese anime, Paul Johnson’s TIE Fighter is a Star Wars inspired look at an epic battle from the Empire’s perspective. Made over four years, it has proved hugely popular with over four million YouTube views.

Hitman Absolution: Chimera

The first video game inspired short of the night came with Adrian Picardi’s Left4Dead, in which characters from Halo, Mortal Kombat, Gears of War and Counter Strike join forces to repel a zombie attack. Following this was an episode of Samara Morgan’s Adult Wednesday Addams series, in which Wednesday is seen dealing with more adult, everyday situations. The episode screened, titled Wednesday vs. Catcallers featured Wednesday seeking revenge on two men who shouted sexist comments while driving past her.

Two superhero inspired shorts, Wonder Woman and Batman: Dead End closed the opening half.  Directed by Sam Balcomb and starring Rileah Vanderbilt, Wonder Woman combined a comic book aesthetic with Greek mythological undertones and has proved hugely popular online. Batman: Dead End, directed by American design artist Sandy Collora, is a Batman/Predator mash-up, and after premiering at the San Diego Comic Con was described by Kevin Smith as, “possibly the truest, best Batman movie ever made.”

The second half kicked off with Liam Banks’ Insidious fan film short, followed by James Pyle’s brilliant animated Inside Woody Allen. Inspired by Stuart Hample’s comic strip that ran from 1976-1984, it was a short, comic vignette showing Allen questioning what the most important things in life are.

The filmmakers from the final three short fan films were all present on the evening and held Q&A’s with host David Lilley following the screenings. Firstly, Constantine: Hellblazer – The Soul Play depicted the occult detective in a poker game with three demons. Written, produced and directed by Richard Reynolds who said that he wanted to make the film as “Issue 301, after the comic finished on issue 300.”

David ‘Dwyz’ Wayman’s beautifully shot Hitman Absolution: Chimera was the penultimate short. With no dialogue, the film explored the character’s personal life with a haunting Ave Maria score. Starring Richard Adam Reynolds as both Agent 47 & 36, Lauren Parker and Darren Maffucci, it has racked up an impressive 116,000 views on YouTube to date.

The Short Stack Scalarama Fan Film Special closed with the highly anticipated Predator: Dark Ages from James Bushe. Set during the Crusades, the faith and fighting skills of a group of Templar Knights is put to the test when they encounter the Predator. With impressive production values, it was the subject of a successful Kickstarter campaign and starred Adrian Bouchet, Amed Hashimi, Sabine Crossen and Ben Lloyd-Holmes.

Short Stack took place at Rough Trade on Sunday 6 September 2015. The next Short Stack will be part of the Nottingham MicroFilm Festival on Sunday 18 October, again at Rough Trade.