Eyestring
If eye trauma gives you the heebie jeebies, director Javier Devitt’s short horror film Eyestring is certain to press a few buttons. There’s no Un Chien Andalou-level of sudden shock; rather, Eyestring deals more with lingering, building psychological and body horror. Alena Chinault, who cowrote the screenplay with Devitt, stars as Veronica, a young woman who finds a hair growing out of one of her tear ducts one day. The mental health phone service she uses to discuss her obsessive compulsive disorder is of no help in her new situation, and matters escalate as attempts to cut the hair do anything but solve the problem. Could an alternative eye treatment clinic be of help? Devitt and Chinault have crafted a gripping, thought-provoking slice of fear-fare cinema that addresses mental health care while delivering a chilling story. Chinault’s fine performance and Devitt’s solid work at the helm lead toward a jaw-dropping final shot.
The Mundanes
Meet the Mundanes, a suburban family that seems to have much in common with many other familial units in the United States, or so the 1950s-style narration about the Mundanes’ home life would have you think. But this literally faceless family does have a secret that hopefully few others share, and that’s where the horror comes into play. Cowriters/codirectors Nicole Daddona and Adam Wilder use dark comedy along with fright-fare elements in their offbeat look at unsettling desires of seemingly ordinary people that could live and lurk next door to any of us.
EYESTRING and THE MUNDANES screened as part of SXSW, which ran March 10–19 in Austin, Texas.
