[Event Review] Final Girls Berlin - Part 2: Queer Horror and Midnight

QUEER HORROR

Itch

The Church has always been an appropriately oppressive setting for a number of horrors with queer themes, either explicitly or implied. Susannah Farrugia’s Itch joins the convent as a magnificently presented story of repressed sexuality and crisis of faith.

Temptation and chastity go head to head as the devout Sister Jude’s (Loren O’Dair) sinful desires manifest in an uncomfortably visceral skin condition. Stark black and white cinematography grants Itch a bleak coldness, perfectly representing a dissociation and deliberate ignorance of the most important parts of one’s identity.

With loving nods to giallo, nunsploitation and psychological horror, the power of Itch will be felt on your skin for days after watching.

MonsterDykë

Proudly and deservedly taking home the Audience Award for 2022 were directors Kaye Adelaide and Mariel Sharp, with their ode to finding love, lust and acceptance in the strangest places.

Sick of a dating pool filled with fetishizing, transphobic men, a sculptress (played by Adelaide) ditches heterosexuality for a sticky sapphic tryst with Andromeda, her tentacled work of art. MonsterDykë is a truly heartwarming and steamy story of union between two outcasts, both alien to society – whether it be physically or socially (after all, as long as monsters have existed in books and film, women have been drawn to them sexually). As the sculptress embarks on an orgasmic journey of self-realisation, she learns that not only is it okay to embrace your inner monsters – it’s also hot as hell.

Sundown Town

Few things are more frightening than the very real, very tangible history (and present day presence) of violent, systematic racism and homophobia. Mylo Butler’s beautifully shot Sundown Town brings the ghosts of the past to life to remind us that their issues are still very much prevalent today.

In only ten minutes, Sundown Town presents an unflinching look at the horrors of police brutality and injustices faced by Black Americans. It’s harrowing and heartbreaking in equal measure, even more so when learning that the idea for Sundown Town came to Butler after personally experiencing homophobic harassment at the hands of the police. 

Protection Spell

One of the most beautifully bizarre entries to Final Girls Film Fest was Maren Moreno’s Protection Spell, a psychedelic, technicolour purge of surreal symbolism that is one fucked up fairytale.

Toying with traditional archetypes of women, Protection Spell follows The Maid as she seeks help from The Hag to cure a nasty bout of vaginal disease. Condoms, cakes and crystal dildoes make up a surreal dreamscape that’s as saccharine as it is repulsive – and utterly hypnotic. Dialogue free and soundtracked by a symphony of ethereal, eerie theremin, Protection Spell amps up the unsettling feeling with a sound design hyper focused on various icky squishes and squelches (performed with the impeccable Foley skills of ‘Tasty the Clown’).

Creativity abounds in this 7 minute short, and those with a sweet tooth and penchant for the pungent will find themselves entranced by the sticky viscera of Protection Spell.

MIDNIGHT

Visitors

Nestled in the Midnight block of shorts was a nasty, raucous slice of madness from director Kenichi Ugana. Taking cues from the classic J-horror style, Visitors ramps up the tension slowly as three concerned friends visit their pal Sota, who has been MIA for a long time. It’s clear that something is not right with Sota, and the longer the group stay in his derelict apartment, the more in danger they are. 

With its amazingly over the top practical effects, spewing geysers of blood, pus and guts and high pitched demonic giggling, Visitors is very much a love letter to Evil Dead, even down to its chainsaw-wielding final hero. Of course, no true Japanese horror would be complete without more than its fair share of amazing ‘wtf’ moments, and Visitors has them in abundance.

Verified

The world of an influencer is notoriously a dangerous one. The pursuit of perfection can lead some down very dark paths, and as explored in Ali Chappell’s Verified, sometimes it’s those dark paths that get the most viewers.

For wannabe influencer Nicky, it’s not her mental health that’s at stake, but her body. After being bitten by a mysterious attacker, Nicky’s physical state deteriorates but her follower count explodes, bringing her ever closer to the elusive grail of a blue verified check. 

Verified is a neat little body horror with an excellent performance from Arielle Edwards as Nicky, who you just can’t help but be simultaneously frustrated by and sympathetic for.  After all, having to present a façade of relentless cheeriness is hard enough as it is, without leaking blood from a neck wound that never heals.

Arm

The loneliness of lockdown was a theme heavily explored by many directors this year, and with good reason. With almost two years of pandemic under our belts, those of us who have spent the time alone have coped in different ways – sourdough starters, making TikToks and more recently the addictive scramble of Wordle. 

Jill Worsley’s ARM captures an image of lockdown when the passage of time ceased to exist, and lunch consisted of a bottle of wine and a block of cheese. With pitch black humour against a backdrop of blue-tinged loneliness, ARM will have you thinking twice about that impulsive Amazon body pillow purchase.

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