As a connoisseur of short horror films you can imagine my reaction to a third volume of the BFI’s Short Sharp Shocks compilations.
Here we have an unearthed selection of 10 films dating between the early 1950s and mid-1980s, thrusting some more vintage horror cinema to the forefront of our screens.
The marquee selection for this edition of Short Sharp Shocks is Return to Glennascaul, featuring Orson Welles in a brief cameo and as the narrator. This ghost story carries a real atmosphere behind it as Welles is recounted by a hitchhiker about his encounter with two mysterious women who live at a nearby mansion.
There are two advert style shorts around messing with fireworks plus a harrowing one about leaving broken glass on the beach.
Another highlight is Wings of Death as we follow a young man battling with addiction, who checks into a bizarre hotel and his demons start to torment him with very unnerving results.
In a precursor to found footage we have Skinflicker, which recounts the kidnapping of a man, with his kidnappers filming parts of the ordeal. This isn’t afraid to go in hard, featuring torture and talking about removing a man’s teeth before smashing them to pieces. A real grim and visceral short, this is pure darkness on screen.
The second disc of the set also includes a slew of interviews with various filmmakers on the shorts, with some such as a featurette on Wings of Death being over half an hour, so to be sure there is no scrimping on quality and quantity here.
The BFI’s Vic Pratt has also put together a short visual essay on the work of British producer Roger Proudlock, who was producer on Strange Stories, of which two segments feature here; Grandpa and Old Silas.
Short Sharp Shocks Volume 3 is available now from the BFI.
Bloody Flicks 