Escalation

Writer/director/producer/star Christian Bachini has put together quite a little demonstration of what he can do as a moviemaker. His character, Chris, has spent too much time alone in pandemic lockdown watching horror movies and the solitude has started to really eat at him. Great horror makeup and practical effects couple with a spooky movie within the movie create a terrific Saw (2004)-inspired confrontation. I saw the 16-minute festival cut; the original 28-minute director's cut is supposed to be even more gory!

This short film is a horror fan's dream. It has it all: isolation, masked figures, jump scares, body horror, and gore galore. Christian Bachini has come up with a brilliant film that pays homage to Italian horror. The film doesn't have a protagonist but revolves around an arrogant chef (played by Bachini) who could care less about others as long as his ego is in check. However, it is when he is watching a horror movie where a masked figure maliciously kills his victim that things start to pick up.

The film soon sees Chris torture himself in such shocking ways, from beating his hand with a meat tenderizer to literally defining "a guilty conscience can eat you alive". There are loads of the crimson all over the place. It gets very cringeworthy and it is clear that this film is not for those with weak stomachs and hearts. However, horror hounds will enjoy seeing the pain and torment Bachini puts himself through in this and those who love the "body horror" subgenre mixed with cannibalism will be cheering Bachini on with this film.

Escalation is everything a horror comedy fan could ask for. I love that Christian "Kang" Bachini wears his Evil Dead influences on his sleeve without it feeling like a rehashing of material. Escalation is over the top wild fun with enough gore to please any horror fan. I'm a huge slapstick guy as well & loved the incorporation in this short. Thank you -LFHG.