Original horror concepts are few and far between; writer and director Will Lee’s Ringworms has a good one that’s made it a festival circuit darling. If the title suggests some kind of body horror, then that’s partially correct, but not quite the Cronenbergian kind we’re used to. Ringworms also has a little in common with Upstream Colour in the way it merges a personal and horror story. So while it makes connection with some popular themes, Ringworms is something of a mind-worm when it comes to sticking in the old nog…
A young man (Skylar Okerstrom-Lang) and his girlfriend (Faye Tamasa) rock up to a remote cabin that he’s rented; he’s planning to propose to her, and she’s not too keen. But a complication ensures when he drops the ring into the waste disposal unit; by Chekhov’s laws, if you bring on a waster disposal unit in act one, someone will get their hand stuck in one in act two….Things get grisly, but exactly how that happens should remain under wraps. There’s a sect gathered around a fuzzy-screened tv who may provide a clue…
Ringworms is a very cinematic short that plays nicely with a creepy idea about spiritual ebb and flow; that moments of weakness might make us prey to dark forces who might feed on just that kind of psychic energy. The visuals are creatively realised in a physical way and the bloody punch-lines are delivered on point.
Dark, twisted and cruel, this accomplished has a successful festival run, and with horror very much the life-blood of post pandemic cinema, Ringworms offers proof of a high concept that should lead to a feature in the gruelling Evil Dead style. This is like watching the opening sequence of a very taut horror film, and hopefully it soon will.
I was expecting a musical. Is that not the way to go for shorts a la Belsize? Les Teignes should have added music.
I’d be too busy holding my lunch down…
That’s a point.
(ew)
Is the correct answer.
Who has time to spend 13min on a movie? I mean, seriously? I could like watch 67 tik tok videos about dead goats or something in that time.
Or I could read part of a book. Or eat a sub sandwich. Or drink a whole can of energy drink (that’s pushing it though. That much, that fast, not always a good idea)….
Given your gentle disposition, you might be forgiven for finding alternative entertainment, presumably of the nature you describe.
OR
I could watch the entirety of JW4 in 13min increments. That’s as gentle as it gets baby!
That is the oddest suggestion in some time.
It’s been a long, hard day. My brain’s operating at about 10% right now….
Dead goats it is, then.
Pretty much, yep…
Dogs get de-wormed. Is that an option for this movie?
For you or the dog?
For the movie…
Did you know that ringworm isn’t actually a worm? It’s a fungal infection like athlete’s foot.
This is short so I’ll give it a look.
It’s 13 minutes and it worked for me.
I don’t want actaul ringworm, whatever you’re calling it. Put your shoes back on and stay away.