Short Film Highlights – Blood in the Snow 2021
Jodie Foster Teaches Filmmaking
Here is a selection of short film reviews from the 2021 Blood in the Snow Film Festival.
Pre-Film Shorts
ᓇᓄᕐᓗᒃ (Giant Bear)
This animated short has some incredibly striking visuals, as it tells a traditional Inuit legend.
4/5
That Halloween
This story of Trick or Treaters telling the story of an escaped killer is pretty much a Halloween version of Rashomon with some fun twists.
4/5
The Call of Cableulhu
Director and co-star Ryan Couldrey adds a Lovecraftian twist to the relatable saga of messy cables. A fun five minutes.
4/5
The Monster Upstairs
This short is pretty much all about the very messed up final shot.
3.5/5
Sleep Without a Dream
This psychological horror in the woods is dependent almost entirely on the haunting monologue by star and writer Prudence Wangu.
3.5/5
Self-Actualization of the Werewolf Woman
A decent animated tale of self-realization between a werewolf and vampire.
3.5/5
They’re Here
Essentially this is Invasions of the Body Snatchers from a child’s perspective, which goes in a very unnerving direction at times.
4/5
Behind You
The title of the film says it all and the execution was pretty fun.
4/5
Duppy
An excellent short from director Andrew Hamilton, which uses a Jamaican ghost story as the basis for a tale of loss and regret.
4.5/5
Mummering Legends
The dark history of the Newfoundland tradition of Mummering is broken in this film, with a pretty clever twist.
4/5
The Snow Ball
A pretty funny animated short about a boy crashing a party of showmen and getting into stylized fight with them.
4/5
Dance Dance Kill
A dance troupe is attacked by a ten-foot tall Canadian goose. ‘Nuff said.
3.5/5
Hell in a Handbasket
A very topical film about a scientist holding the future of humanity in his hands and…not quite succeeding.
3.5/5
The Phone Interview
A woman takes a hostage to get her dream job in this well produced short with a quite ironic punchline.
4/5
Lunachicks
I got a bit of a genderswapped Dexter vibe from this short about a woman desperate for friends, who is tormented by the ghost of her serial killer father.
4/5
Wolf in Dude’s Clothing
The premise of a wolf pretending to be human sounds ridiculous on paper, but this short actually pulls it off.
4/5
Fruit
Quite possibly the most messed up, yet quite hilarious, three minutes you will ever experience. 
4/5
Heart Attack Man
A home invasion short with a very interesting and ironic twist.
4/5
Extraction
A crime-thriller short that is most notable for its pretty well-choreographed fighting.
3.5/5
Performance Anxiety
A hip-hop artist gets a gig performing for a possibly Satanic group in this well-made short, which actually has a pretty decent performance scene.
4/5
Smile
This short about the horrors of depression leads towards a truly horrifying conclusion.
4/5
An Uninvited Guest
A commentary about police brutality and race relations, with a little dab of irony.
3.5/5
Break Any Spell
A heartwarming short that combines LARPing with a young woman’s worries about her dementia-suffering mother.
4/5
I Want to Be Like You
Heavy utilization of split screen in this commentary on personal appearance and plastic surgery.
3.5/5
Hunter’s Cabin
The hunter meets the hunted in this short that features a very interesting twist at the end.
4/5
Annie’s Lamp
The title of the film says it all, as an old woman seeks vengeance against her abusive husband.
3.5/5
The Haunted Blizzard
An animated Inuit tale with some truly scary moments.
4/5
Itsy Bitsy Spider
A very dark short about a man’s paranoia about his boyfriend’s possible infidelity after finding a giant spider in their apartment. The final shot will probably give you chills.
4/5
La Véillée
There is some heavy irony at play in this short, as an elderly woman tells party guests a story about encounters with Fairies, all while her grandson has a similar experience.
3.5/5
He Comes at Night
A typical “Monster Under the Bed” story, but a quite well executed one.
4/5
Kwêskosîw (She Whistles)
This intense short starring Sera-Lys McArthur (Don’t Say Its Name) and Aidan Devine (I’ll Take Your Dead) tackles the subject of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women with a supernatural twist.
4.5/5
The Wrath Rustico Vale
This short about a young woman seeking out a local legend features not one, but two twists!
4/5
The Backwards Game
A twisted little tale involving mirrors and coin flips.
3.5/5
Red String of Fate
A very well-produced science fiction short about a robotics engineer trying to bring to life an android version of her fallen lover. I can almost see this expanded into something longer.
4.5/5
Good Morning
This short about a hitman is interesting, but I couldn’t fully comprehend the plot, especially the final shot.
3/5
The Scritching Hour
This short about a dog sneaking out of its owner’s bedroom at night is as cute as it is creepy.
4.5/5
Mute
Based on a short story by Stephen King, this a quite well produced thriller about a middle-aged woman ranting about her husband’s infidelity to a hitchhiker she thinks is deaf.
4/5
The Young Wife
I sort of knew where this wilderness-set period short film was going, but it still featuring a satisfying conclusion.
4/5
Breathe
A very short and succinct waterside ghost story.
3/5
Moore’s Void
A science fiction short that tackles grief, as well as the technology theory of Moore’s Law. It gets kind of weird.
3/5
Sarah’s Song
A post-apocalyptic monster drama that does a lot with its sound design to hide the fact that it’s a low budget student film.
4/5
