Slit

Writer/director Colin Clarke clearly likes gialli: his short movie Slit mimics the work of Argento et al, with strong coloured lighting, a killer in leather gloves wielding an open razor, and sexy ladies in very little clothing.

The film opens with two women staggering home after a night out, pausing only for a quick snog. Back at their pad, the ladies indulge in more girl-on-girl action before falling asleep. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure sneaks into the apartment with murder on their mind.

Like many a giallo, Slit's plot comes second to style, but in this case director Clarke takes things a step too far, with a practically non-existent narrative. It's 'killer stalks girls' and that's it! (I feel as though there may have been some kind of twist at the end, but if there was one, I totally missed it).

At just eleven minutes, Slit never bores (fit birds making out is enough to keep my attention), but next time Colin, can we have a bit more of a story?

The one thing that I noted about this piece is their is only one line of dialog. The rest was done via expression and camera work, which was great on both the actresses and director. It moved along at a good pace and built up the anticipation. I would recommend anyone watching this short.

The best part of the movie is how the dialog doesn't give you any foreshadowing. There is the teaser text, but the only hints you get are what the camera allows you to see. I like this style of storytelling that builds up to the end, which gives you the rest of the information needed to understand the story as a whole. As an artist, I can appreciate the limited information and building it up like blocks to get the whole picture. I feel Colin did this very well.

I think the music got progressively better from the previous movie (Witchfinder) and this piece, which is always a good thing. Andy definitely did not remain stagnant in style, and it is appreciated because it was more noticeable in this movie. In the absence of actual dialog, the music drives the story as much as camera and acting direction.

If into lesbians, this is for you











No thanks.

SLIT is a solid little 11 minute short from 2015 that I recently caught on Amazon Prime. It really made me want to see more from writer / director Colin Clarke. It's a super tight and well put together giallo exercise that is done extremely well. We have our lovely ladies, stalker cam elements, and a black gloved killer, but the real goodness is in the smaller giallo flavor goodness.



The lighting is fantastic. Over the top reds, blues, and greens in true giallo style. Even the whiskey featured is J&B. That made me happy.



While the short is only 11 minutes and much if that is a lingering sexy scene, the short is well worth the time investment when it delivers up the more horrific elements.



Lillian Lamour, Miranda Cox, and Aley Kreinz turn in good performances even if their screen time is limited to the 11 minute production.



Fun stuff. Well worth the viddy!