It’s the end
of a long, cold, dark Winter Monday and damn it, you need some cheering up. Well,
if ever a short would do the job, it’s this one.
Prepare for
the unadulterated AWESOME that is Hellyfish…
HELLYFISH (2014)
Dir: Patrick
Longstreth, Robert McLean
Starring: Agnes Asplund, Mohammed Sinbawy, Abraham
Lebos, Liberty Lebos, Jessica Lebos, Maggie Hart, Gary Hill, Lillian McCotter,
Nikita Carpenter, Anthony Paderewski, Gregory Broom, Andrew McClelland
SUMMARY: The short opens with a quick text explanation for
the opening scene: a nuclear weapon is missing, lost somewhere in the ocean not
far from Tybee Island, Georgia. As a Russian spy (Asplund) and Syrian terrorist
(Sinbawy) look to recover it for their own nefarious means, they instead
disturb the local jellyfish population — one that has mutated due to exposure
to the weapon’s leaking radiation.
Later,
several normal everyday people, including high school it-girls the triplets
(McCotter), lunkheaded jocks (Paderewski and Broome) and local fisherman
Captain Shaw (Hill) are gathering on the beach to enjoy a sunny, summer
afternoon. Little do they realise that something terrible is heading their way…
WHY IT WORKS: This short is marvelous! Combining the B-movie fun
of the works of Roger Corman or SyFy smash Sharknado, with genuinely fantastic
effects work and artful direction, Hellyfish is EASILY one of the best shorts
I’ve seen this year (and I’ve watched A LOT of short films).
It
feels like a proper 80s creature feature crossed with a 50s drive-in flick and
just WORKS.
The
humour throughout hits the spot time and time again (even characters that
should annoy provoke raucous laughter) and the sheer love that went into making
the film is all over the screen. From gory set pieces to well-worked running gags, there is not one creative misfire in this 12-minute riot.
The
cast are great, the effects are great, the batshit insane concept is great and
by golly, it looks great.
I
LOVED the later shots of the giant Hellyfish, and I would be onboard for a
feature length outing in the future.
This
film was funded through a successful kickstarter campaign — if Longstreth,
McLean and co want to start another to make the sequel/feature they’ve got my
money!
SO WHERE’S IT AT? Well the lazy among you can watch it right
here!
However,
please do visit the official Hellyfish web site. It offers all kinds of cool
info about the film, it has an online store (as soon as I can buy that poster,
I am!) and a handy festival schedule to give you some insight into when you may
be able to catch the film on the big screen.
Also,
check out the film’s Facebook page here (and Like it, they deserve our love,
guys!) and follow the Hellyfish phenomenon on twitter: @hellyfishmovie
10 WORD WRAP UP: Beautifully shot and hilarious homage to wild, wacky
monster b-movies
If you haven’t already, do please check out and like the Hickey’s House of Horrors Facebook page, which you can find here. It gives you a nice quick link to any new posts on this blog, plus regular news updates from around the web. I check the Internet so you don’t have to! Alternatively, follow me on twitter: The House@HickeysHorrors
Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your stay.
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