Rating: 3/5
Holy Hell ***.5 A SWAT team does a drug bust and gets dragged into a mass death of cult members. Jennifer Reeder does one of her favorite things and shows you the world through visuals that may or may not get an explanation, creating an opaque framing narrative for the viewer to wade through. I could do without the scan lines, but I like all the weird shit and Nam June Paik homage
Storm Drain *** A news story about a creature called The Rat Man, who lives in the sewer drain that disappears in the light. Pretty funny and gross, and while it stops making sense for the camera to roll, it comes back together with the ending
The Empty Wake **.5 Cameras are set up at a wake during a storm, with only one person attending. But when the power goes out, she picks up a camera for a light. A little dull, pretty gross, and total nonsense. I thought David Reale was Thomas Middleditch at first
The Subject ** A head attached to mechanical spider arms, filmed during an experiment. Considered a failure, the scientist finds new subjects. Fine idea with some appreciable technical feats, but dull from a storytelling perspective
Terror *** White supremacists militia a la Proud Boys setting up a mass cleansing. Police step in to help arm them — specifically, one of the cops in the SWAT team framing narrative — along with something they call The Creature. Of course, not all goes according to plan. It’s funny without being annoyingly political
Overall Mostly solid stuff! Maybe the only instance I can think of where I like the framing story most