The on-line at home edition of the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival continued yesterday. We kicked off the day completing the monsters are everywhere block of short films the two standouts from the completion of the block were Suspension about a fighter pilot trapped after ejecting in a tree where a monster stalks him and Malakout a haunting stop motion piece from Iran.

We then moved on to the feature film Survival Skills, presented as a narrated training movie for rookie police officers set in 1988. This filmmaker nailed the look and the tone of the 80s perfectly managing to make a satire with loads to say and plenty of entertainment.

Our house then broke for pizza and gaming before my friend and I returned to dark cinema.

Our second feature was The Return a passable tale of a young man facing the demons of his past following the mysterious death of his father. A competent Canadian entry The Return didn’t break any novel or interesting ground but managed to any critical failures.

We closed out the evening with another block of shorts the theme this time ‘Twisted Innocence.’ For me the standouts from this grouping of shorts were Bakemono where a Japanese’s girl encounters a traditional demon from folklore, My Brother Juan told entirely with a young girl being interviewed by an official of the state about her older and sick brother, and winning the award for most disturbing was Milk Teeth set in an orphanage where children pay a terrible price in hopes of being adapted.

Special mention goes to the stop motion short Kim, a charming and witty piece about a siren and her place in the grander ecology.

The festival continues.