20/10/13 Merry Little Christmas (2010)

Many years ago, in the days when there was only four channels on British TV, ITV dropped a right bollock by putting on a film in the daytime that was wholly inappropriate. It was some parody of superhero films that involved violence, racial stereotypes, swearing and ladyboobs. I thought it was great. I vaguely recall that some TV person explained the balls up a while later by saying they had confused the name with a similarly titled family comedy, and apologised to the uptight knobwits who'd got in a fluster at the sight of a nipple.

Whilst watching Merry Little Christmas, I thought how darkly amusing it'd be if one of the big woolly channels made the same cock-up on Xmas day by airing this gem.

It's a twenty minute short that packs in more misery, horror, depression and glumness than most established horror directors manage in their entire careers. Child abuse, bumrape, suicide, vicious beatings, self-mutilation and a woman rubbing one out in a bathtub crammed into less than half an hour. More impressively, unlike almost all modern horror films, this is genuinely troubling, nasty, scary well shot, unambiguous and powerful.

The two reviews on IMDB both sum it up well, particularly the one that describes it as a cross between Irreversable and an Aphex Twin video. If the other review is correct, this short was apparently commissioned by the Spanish government to highlight the horrors of spousal/familial abuse. The Spanish government then banned it for doing such an effective job.

To put it in layman's terms, it's some nasty shit.

Good though.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1820533/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
10/10

"Are... Are you Steve Buscemi?"

Fat bloke.

That's better.

Perkin.