Till Death Do We Rot Review from FoxTrot Productions!
Emir Skalonja is one of those talented filmmakers who buzzes around on the underground of horrors for years and makes those kinds of flicks you see for what they are – to the point, gritty, and raw. Savage (see review for Savage here) was a return to those nihilistic post-apocalypse cheapies but with a story to tell, whilst his Plague films (see review of The Plague here), Confessions of a Homicidal Prostitute (see review of Confessions of a Homicidal Prostitute here) and The Butcher (see review of The Butcher here), kind of show a fella who’s upping his game as he goes along. Helped by a team of talents throughout each feature, they showcase some visions of sheer mania. Emir will hit payday and the big time very soon, yet I don’t think he’ll be the sort of bloke to sell out his creations.
Onto his latest, and very brief, feature. Till Death do we Rot, is a humorous lighthearted romp which maybe acts like a filler to his next big in-yer-chops barrage of ruggedness. Running at fourteen-minutes (with credits), it’s a bite-size interval. Beginning with a young lady (FX gal, and savage co-writer, Krystal Shenk), merrily getting two plates of grub ready whilst jolly happy family music jingles along. She takes the food to her partner, who sits at the table with his face decaying. “We’ve run out of meat.” she says, “Don’t worry, we’ll get some tomorrow.” he doesn’t look too overjoyed by the meal presented to him. He cannot even keep the food in his mouth, it slides out constantly. She becomes distressed. “Please don’t do this again, Bill. Just eat this for now!” Bill watches the plates get cleaned away with a confused expression as she nags him. I say nag, but she’s really simply pretending everything will be okay.
“You know I love you, right? No matter what.” trying for a normal relationship, even though he is the walking dead, she attempts to give him oral sex, but as she masturbates him, his penis comes off in her hand. It’s too much for her, she breaks down — the illusion of a normal existence with him has gone. He’s a zombie and he’s rotting away. She decides to shoot him, but cannot bring herself to perform the act. However, another solution happens which brings them a lot closer. It’s not long before fresh meat arrives…
Till Death do we Rot is a lighter side to love beyond death. A mile away from the grim but brilliant, Shadows of the Dead from 2004. In the final minutes gore literally explodes and showers the whole nine yards — and then some! I spent the first ten minutes watching the make-up on Bill’s face whilst thinking about Don Dohler’s Fiend and other late night chillers, only to be taken by surprise and treated to an onslaught as all humour is peeled away leaving a graphic Italian gut-munching type madness.
Till Death do we Rot has that feel of an adaptation from some horror comic and would fit neatly into an anthology of sorts. It has silliness but knows damn well it’s time to get serious and physical when required. Acting roll call to Jacob and Krystal. Jacob, as Bill, sounds and moves like a zombie, whilst Krystal portrays a woman torn and finally crumbling. My only quibble would be after she cries and returns, there’s a weak kind of return to the humour as she describes their sex life which kind of is out of place by then. That aside, direction, the colour of the shoot, and the annoying music which suddenly reverses mid-way, are all good.
Congratulations to the team. They score another bottle of blood.
Directed by: Emir Skalonja | Written by: Emir Skalonja | Produced by: Krystal Shenk, Emir Skalonja, Jacob Hodgson, Robert A Coldicott | Cinematography by: Emir Skalonja | Editing by: Emir Skalonja | Special Effects by: Krystal Shenk | Cast: Krystal Shenk, Jacob Hodgson, Robert A Coldicott | Year: 2018 | Color: Color | Language: English | Country: USA | Runtime: 14min
Distribution: Fox Trot Productions
