The Toronto After Dark Film Festival has a firm commitment to giving short films a significant platform, and this year was no different. The shorts are peppered in throughout the festival – from short film programs to condensed genre flicks opening for much-anticipated features. The following are short films that were featured in the Canada After Dark showcase that are worth your time if you see them reappear on the festival circuit or an online premiere.

Bath Bomb (DIR. Colin G. Cooper)

Bath Bomb is both immediately tense and delightfully campy.

Colin G. Cooper’s film starts and ends with a confrontation about loyalty, suggesting infidelity is at foot for two romantically involved men (Anders Yates, Daniel Henkel). As the short rolls along, the pair catches on to how much intel their partner knows about them. Nevertheless, they keep their covers at large. Yates and Henkel show expertise when balancing their own self-doubt while preparing to be caught in a lie.

The short proceeds to some grungy body horror, as the titular (and comically large) bath bomb, reveals a surprise. The practical effects are momentarily satisfying, but I could watch a full-length feature of Yates and Henkel being strategically secretive with each other.

Loud (DIR. Adam Azimov)

Loud is challenged by subjectivity, which filmmaker Adam Azimov partially overcomes through extended scenes of a music producer trying to integrate a blood-curdling scream into their latest track. Unfortunately, Loud doesn’t sell the appeal of this scream very well and it sounds even worse when crowbarred into an already rough song.

Azimov’s film becomes more compelling albeit more familiar when Loud evolves into a possession horror. This is also where the short abruptly ends. If Loud was a proof of concept and Azimov was interested in stretching this story to feature-length, I hope he leans more towards genre conventions rather than a character study on tortured artists.

Mangittatuarjuk – The Gnawer of Rocks (DIR. Louise Flaherty)

Louise Flaherty adapts an Innuitian tale of chilly folk horror in Mangittatuarjuk – The Gnawer of Rocks to great avail.

Though the film is animated, using meticulous and seamless stop motion, Flaherty’s short is a mature endeavour that teases us with a tall tale and reveals the reality behind the storytelling. The short never stops being curious about itself as it carries a sense of dread. However, the dry delivery of its vocal performances hold the film back from being evocative. Still, for the animation alone, Mangittatuarjuk – The Gnawer of Rocks is worthwhile.

Something Bad That Happened in My Past (DIR. Mike Mildon)

Two crooks are sidetracked from their next job by an intricate flashback in the multilayered satire Something Bad That Happened in My Past, one of the best shorts I caught at this year’s Toronto After Dark Film Festival.

Mike Mildon’s short swings from trope to trope as Chucky (Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll from Kim’s Convenience) reminisces and longs for his missing wife Emeilie (Murdoch Mysteries’ Claire McConnell, who is also credited as a co-writer). His partner Rexy (Chris Locke of the east coast hit comedy Who’s Yer Father?) take the bait and pries for more information in an attempt to clear Chucky’s head. Once the flashback hits, however, Mildon’s crime spoof turns into a hilarious take on the “dead wife” montage, complete with redundant clips of Emeilie as a free spirit. This story takes another turn as the montage morphs into “found footage” horror as the audience is given an idea of why Emeilie “mysteriously” split. This spiralling spoof is ultimately interrupted by Rexy in a Seinfeld-esque outro.

Something Bad That Happened in My Past may sound like a convoluted play on putting a hat on a hat (and then some), but Mildon keeps us laughing. The performances are terrific, and the reveals in each genre are so much fun to discover. And the ultimate test of greatness? I rewatched this short later on and it was just as hilarious.

Unclean (DIR. Simon Chouinard)

Unclean emulates the mood of a usual night shift experienced by its lonely character, a public pool janitor (Alexandre Nachi). While the list of strengths ends there for Unclean, an otherwise off-the-shelf slow burn haunting, Simon Chouinard proves to have the promising styling of an atmospheric filmmaker.

Nachi gives a bland performance that requires him to have more reactions than what the actor actually offers. However, Nachi and Chouinard convey the janitor’s sense of environment really well. When things start going bump in the night, the actor slips into the role of a reliable guide for safety.

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For more information on the festival, visit the official Toronto After Dark website.

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