"Worm" is the second short film from Toronto based Fatal Pictures, co-founded by Zach Green and Richard Powel.  Their first foray into filmmaking was the 30-minute horror short, "Consumption."  This time around Fatal Pictures continue to linger in and around the horror realm with their 20-minute dark drama entitled "Worm."

"Worm" follows a day in the life of Geoffrey Dodd (Robert Nolan), a seemingly ordinary High School teacher.  On the exterior, Dodd  appears to be a man of sound mental faculties, but behind a masked facade lies a seething hateful misanthrope.  Dodd loathes his life and everyone in it.  He sits from behind a guarded veneer and conducts a mental dialog with himself and fumes over his students: "Bradley, I bet if we parted that greasy mop of yours, we'd find a whole bunch of scars left by your mom's coat hanger!"  Fellow faculty members are equally repulsive to him: "Thieving pig, keep eating and maybe you'll have that second heart attack -- now that would be nice!"  As the day withers away, so does Dodd's grasp of sanity.

Director Richard Powel, tells a story of societal moral decay through the eyes of a disgruntled school teacher that everyone who has ever worked an uninspiring job can relate to.  Many of those who have ever worked in some kind of service industry have fantasized about telling off a customer, co-worker or superior.  What "Worm" explores though, is this normal everyday fantasy planting its seed, then quickly blossoming into a flower of hatred that creeps up on you.  Before you know it you're engulfed by ill-tempered homicidal  thoughts, unable to turn them off resulting in bringing them to fruition.  This is the case of Geoffrey Dodd's unsatisfying life and his morality decline.

"Worm" is shot on 16mm and is narrated (through voice over) almost entirely from the surly point-of-view of Geoffrey Dodd.  Most of the film explores his mental spiral out of control, exceptionally executed primarily by the facial expressions of Nolan and his voice acting talent.  Nolan along with Powel's directorial prowess deliver a first-class character study of a man we can all relate to on some level -- which is the scary part...

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