From Micro Budget to Macabre: A Review of Dean Houlihan’s Short Film Compilation!
One thing can be genuinely stated when describing films by Dean Houlihan — he’s diverse. He doesn’t stick to one genre. Whether for better or worse, he’ll give something a jolly good go. He’s done a decent handful of shorts, most have found their way into underground anthology movies which coincidentally is how my Partner in Gore, Willow, and I first spotted him. I’ve been pals with Dean on social media for ages but hadn’t seen his lil nasties until we reviewed Dark Mix Tape (see review here). Dean personally thanked me for those words, and we exchanged short movies. This review is the first of perhaps two compilation ones. Some of his work is available on YouTube (I’ll link at the end) so treat this as a guide I suppose.
Dean is micro budget, very ambitious, and happy to film whatever. Starting with the 15-minute epic, Disembodied Hitman, this has a slick The Texas Chain Saw Massacre homage near the beginning, before we venture into a tightly structured violence-filled beast where our central protagonist (played by Dean) explains the biblical significance of a certain number and why he hunts then tortures people linked to that number. His many victims must recite verses from the Bible that all circulate this mission of his. The camera work and musical score are both very impactful plus the killer’s wide range of tools (including guns, drills, and scissors) are amusing.
Disembodied Hitman is definitely ambitious as I stated before about Dean. He uses friends and family. There are severed limbs and drilled brains. It’s such fun. Lots of things happen. Disembodied Hitman would work as a longer film, certainly. It has also played a few festivals gaining mass appeal.
Today is the Day runs for around 2-minutes in length. It’s quick starting with a sleeping girl awaken by a loud noise and a flickering masked face (and we mean loud!) Our TV nearly exploded on volume setting 15!! Absolute prick. Hehehe. Whilst she wanders through the house in a daze, a note is posted through the door that states: “Today is the Day.” As she burns the note in her back garden, she’s confronted by the masked fiend…
Today is the Day is a quick and to the point chiller. It’s nothing special, but merely exists to test some effects work I guess (incidentally the effects flashing really irritated Willow). Next up arrives something different — a thriller called Hidden Danger. This is five-and-a-half-minutes but feels longer. It’s a dad and son tale which has nice locations but becomes rather noneventful and the music starts well but ends up tedious. This short could have been so much more.
Last of these short films is the quick fire, Kill Tape, created for a Roger Corman quarantine challenge a few years back. Running at 2-minutes, regular star, Richard Houlihan is being watched and stalked via an unseen predator using an old school camcorder. Montages of creep shots show him in the garden, in his home, etcetera, until the filmmaker finds a hammer…
I loved the grainy VHS feel. I am a sucker for it. It also had a brilliant twist ending which was absolutely cool. It wasn’t too complex. Just a quick horror.
Dean Houlihan’s short films aren’t bogged down in depth, and he definitely deserves applause for the gore in certain ones. He sent me a multitude to wade through, so we’ll be hitting his contributions to a few more anthology flicks soon.
Meanwhile, here’s the link to his YouTube channel where three of the ones named here float around gathering watchers: youtube.com/@deanhoulihan4139
Directed by: Dean Houlihan
Written by: Dean Houlihan
Produced by: Dean Houlihan, Bobby Calloway
Edited by: Dean Houlihan
Special Effects by: Belle Rothman, Dean Houlihan
Music by: Kevin Macleod, Purple Planet, Prairie Dogs
Cast: Dean Houlihan, Richard Houlihan, Nichole O Connor, Shanie Lee Smith, Robert Boyle, Nahash
Year: 2014-2021
Country: Ireland
Language: English
Runtime: Disembodied Hitman (15min), Today is the Day (2min), Hidden Danger (5min), Kill Tape (2min)
Studio: Schlock Angel Entertainment
