The Underground has sure had
a hell of a lot to offer when it comes to
talent in the last few years. With his two
short films, My Skin! (2nd
place winner for best short film at Shriek
Fest 2003) and the other film being,
Scream For Me (Winner, best short film
at the N.Y.C horror film festival 2003), It
is sure fire that this directors films are
guaranteed to show you a good, brutal and
psychological time. Presented by Black
Cab Productions, written and directed by
Christopher Alan Broadstoane:
My Skin!
When Death is cheated, he seeks his
revenge! Along with his checklist of souls
to collect, he finds that the one he has
come to claim is that of a woman, who still
had plenty of life to live.
George has killed his
wife, Cathy, before her time had come.
Death is not pleased with this, one bit.
There is always somebody fucking up his
rotation! George happens to be the un-lucky
man to get on deaths nerves.
After replacing all
the evidence at the scene of the crime, the
reaper decides to call George at his hotel,
as he is away on a business trip. In the
duration of this taunting call, George finds
out that he is no longer free and clear of
his brutal crime and that he will indeed
pay, for fucking with the soul collector.
We don’t get to see the
arrival of the police, as Death has made a
911 call. Now George is really fucked! We
also don’t get to see George (with the
exception of a photo on the desk), just his
voice and the utter fear, worry and anger
spewing from his vocal chords, through the
telephone.
Ratings:
For
the writing and directing, I give a 10.
Written and directed by Chris Broadstone, My
Skin! was a 13 minute masterpiece. His
depiction of death and the act of cheating
it/him is a new and fresh look at the
subject and something that will definitely
keep the mind alive with thought and
curiosity.
For
the cinematography I give a 9. Being
an independent short film, it is not as easy
as we would think, to film with such
brilliance. I found the visuals of the film
to be absolutely astounding, though shot in
digital (we all know I am not much of a
clean film fan), it still kept my eyes
focused on each detail, shown throughout the
film.
For
the acting I give an 8. We must
remember that this is a low budget,
independent short film, so you can’t exactly
expect acting skills up there with the likes
of Robert De Niro, yet for
what we are viewing and the actor chosen to
play Death, Tony Simmons, was fantastic. In
other projects Mr. Simmons can really go
far, his abilities shine in the films he has
done for Chris Broadstone, thus far. My
best to him in his future ventures. The
voice of George, vocalized by Cole Adam
Buissom, was quite believable. You, the
viewer, can hear the nervousness and fear in
his tone, which I found to be great. In a
role with no physical presence, it is not
easy to get the effect that was so,
convincible given; he pulled it off with
absolute excellence.
For
FX, I give an 8. For having nearly
no blood… and the violence only shown in
extremely brief flashbacks, it was
convincing and disturbing enough to keep me
glued to the screen.
All
in all, My Skin! gets my rating of a
9. Disturbing and vengeful are a few
of my favorite words and My Skin!
delivers, 10 fold. From disturbing imagery,
to the angst and despair presented in this
film, it was completely mind bending and a
pleasure to view.
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world
blind!”