Editorials
[Short Film Spotlight] You’ve Got a Mystery Date with Terror in “Your Date is Here”
There are tons of bite-sized horror films popping up online everyday…each a potential quick fix for your fear addiction. Here at BD, we’re happy to show some love to the good ones. We even have our own show dedicated to just that! “World of Death” exposes some of the best up and coming talent in the horror world. But, even beyond our weekly anthology of underground goodies, there’s a bevy of films deserving of a few minutes time with your eyeballs. We hope to shed some light on the hidden corners and dark shadows of the internet where the most gruesome shorts may lurk with “Short Film Spotlight.”
It’s amazing what can be accomplished with a free weekend and a strong concept. Just take a look at David Sandberg. His itsy-bitsy short, “Lights Out,” not only scored himself a Hollywood feature based on the same material but an upcoming mega budget DC flick (Shazam!). The truth is, it’s hard, especially within the horror genre, to cram a miniature dose of terror within a coherent package in just under 10 minutes, let alone craft a story worthy of the big screen treatment. Filmmakers Todd Spence and Zak White have certainly cracked the code with “Your Date is Here.” The six minute spooker produced for the duo’s Midnight Video outlet tells the story of a mother and daughter sitting down for a girls night in with a delivery pizza and an old school board game.
The game, aptly titled Your Date is Here, is a clear takeoff on the classic gender stereotype enforcing Mystery Date. A game in which players have to collect cards in order to build the perfect outfit to match the possible dream boat lurking behind a little plastic door affixed to the game board, likely wouldn’t fly off shelves today. Oh, and you also had to ensure you avoided winding up with “The Dud,” a nerdy zero who was sure to be the death of your social life. Spence and White use the dated concept and retool it to feature a telephone for communicating with the mystery man. Suffice to say, this is a horror film, and what ‘s behind the door and on the other end of the line is far from a pretty sight.
I had the chance to chat with the writer/directors about “Your Date is Here,” and I’ll be sharing that convo below. However, you should totally check the short out first to avoid spoilers! So…here ya’ go.
Still here? Great! Hopefully you enjoyed that as much as I did. I wanted to pick their brains about their inspirations and find out just what led them to make “Your Date is Here.”
Todd Spence: Growing up in a small town, there’s not a whole lot to do beyond getting into trouble or going to the movie theater and video store. I chose the latter. Horror/Comedy might be my favorite subgenre. Movies like American Werewolf and Innocent Blood have always been great. I grew up loving John Landis movies and can thank “The Making of Thriller” for peaking my interest in filmmaking and possibly horror movies overall. I think that’s where Zak and I connected in our writing. I’ve known Zak since college when we went to Webster University and joined the film program there. Actually a lot of those guys that we became friends with worked on this short and our other horror short“Where is It”. I have to say, I didn’t learn a ton of technical skill in college but you meet some really great people.
Zak White: You learn the most in film school by just going out and making something and we were both very lucky to meet a group of really talented people who had similar tastes and goals. We spent most of our time focused on comedy, but when we started to focus more on horror, things began to click.
While I’ve never actually played Mystery Date, I did (unknowingly) wind up with a “Saved by the Bell” board game as a kid that was practically a rip off. I had no idea that when I asked for a game based on one of my favorite shows that I would be playing to win a date with either Zack, Slater, or, heaven forbid, Screech (“The Dud”…or in this film’s case, “The Dweeb”). So, had Spence or White ever played the game themselves, and what drew them to this particular concept?
TS: We never played Mystery Date but we vaguely remembered the commercials growing up. The game was released in the 50’s but then they reproduced it in the 90’s and when we were thinking of an idea we hadn’t really seen before, that game entered the conversation. It’s already creepy without meaning to be creepy. There’s some dude behind the door, you don’t know who it is, you don’t know what he looks like but you’re about to go on a date with him and trust this guy? Yeah, that’s scary.
ZW: A horror Jumanji seemed like too much fun to pass up. Plus, blind dates might’ve seemed fun and exciting a half century ago when the game first came around, but in this day and age that concept is straight terrifying.
Of course, I had to know about the actual board game design used in the short. It was so authentic that I forgot while watching that the original game was called Mystery Date and not Your Date is Here. I just assumed they found this in a thrift store somewhere and decided to use it in their short. I should’ve known better.
TS: We took a Mystery Date board and put our own logos, aged the board a bit and added the phone and call button. The phone isn’t a part of the original Mystery Date design, but we liked that extra level of contact within the game. Tate Marshall designed the logo and box art. Incredibly talented artist.
ZW: It was a lot of fun taking the existing design and seeing what we could warp and change to fit our needs. Obscuring faces and aging corners, it really gave an eerie feel to just an ordinary piece of cardboard. I would absolutely play this game.
The Dweeb feels like a piece of a much larger story. Did you know the backstory for the spirit (or demon) going into the film? If there were interest, is there potential to see this expanded into a feature?
TS: Going into the completed short script, we didn’t know what the back story would be, but we actually just completed a feature script we’re shopping around, which explains not only who this guy is, but all of his friends. In the game, you have a few date options so it’s the Dweeb times five. The script also has a lot to do with today’s social commentary in regards to male and female roles and what’s going on with abuse.
ZW: We really enjoyed taking this monster and digging into the “how and why” of him. He’s not just popping out and doing this thing, he’s having fun with it. Teasing his victim, toying with them, it really says a lot about him and not to spoil anything, but turns out… he’s a big creep.
I, for one, would be all over that. Let’s get a Dweeb movie, people! The shoot itself was filled with the typical foibles of indie production: hot lights, no AC, angry neighbors making noise complaints. It’s a testament to anyone out there who wants to get behind the camera. Just do it! Plan it out, be smart, and get creative. If you have a roof over your head, you already have you location. Of course, if you keep this up you might find yourself in the same position as Spence and White.
ZF: We shot our first short in Todd’s apartment, our second short in mine. We’ve run out of free apartments!
If you or someone you know has an awesome short worthy of the Short Film Spotlight, hit me up on Twitter. Until next time, later, fiends!
In this day and age, the word “troll” is often used to describe various online nuisances. Yet as abundant and irksome as the modern troll can be, they aren’t usually as fearsome as their mythological counterparts. I’m not talking about the small and gentler versions that have become more common to see in media. No, there are much bigger and scarier trolls out there—and André Øvredal’s movie Troll Hunter is one of the best places to find them.
It doesn’t take long for Troll Hunter (or Trolljegeren) to dump the Blair Witch Project-esque setup and aim for something a lot fresher. The trajectory of the story is augmented by Otto Jespersen’s character Hans, the titular Troll Hunter. The second he comes barreling out of the deep, dark woods and shouts “troll” at the camera, this movie takes a turn into what feels like uncharted territory. Not only subject-wise, but also conceptually.
For fantastical and made-up subject matter in cinema, found footage is a fast way to add a guise of believability. After all, what we accept to be the most crucial aspect of documentaries—the truth—rubs off on pseudo-documentaries, despite our understanding of the pretense involved. That is what Øvredal delivered with Troll Hunter: a movie so convincing that some viewers wondered if trolls really do exist. So, had this been straightforwardly made, it likely wouldn’t have been as effective. Conventional narratives would be more inclined to treat something like trolls as flat out unreal, and never try to convince the audience to think otherwise.
Hans petrifies the three-headed Tusseladd troll.
The viewers, like the characters trailing Hans, are quickly thrown into the deeper end of that extraordinary story. They have to process all this new information while staying on the go. So, although there is no significant amount of meandering, narratively or physically, there is still a good amount of atmosphere, not to mention tension building. It’s never anything frightful, but then again, Troll Hunter isn’t your standard offering of horror; it’s more on the low end of the dark fantasy spectrum. We aren’t ever spirited away to a faraway world—we stay in rather familiar surroundings, as well as dip into those less so. The outcome is a movie where you’re constantly more in awe than in terror.
As fantasy fiction might do, Troll Hunter prefers not to deal with incredulity. There is no time to waste on doubt, as interviewer Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), soundperson Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) all follow Hans around, recording whatever this character is willing to reveal about his bizarre job. Of course, the Troll Hunter himself is not an open book; in that respect, the diegetic documentary fails to fully capture and unpack the more interesting of its two subjects. Yes, all those giant, monstrous trolls are indeed incredible, but understandably, your mind wanders to their pursuer. What kind of person signs up for this gig and then chooses to stick with it for so long?
Reviews have called out Troll Hunter for its lack of character development. In regard to Thomas and his fellow documentarians, that criticism is valid, but bear in mind, they aren’t the focus of the story, either. Meanwhile, Hans is a well-crafted character. At least better than first realized. Before he was introduced, Hans had already grown tired of the troll grind. Fed up with that low compensation for his services, resentful of the bureaucracy, and wanting to expose his employer on a large scale, Hans’ discontent is glaring.
Then there are those finer details about the Troll Hunter, such as that indifference to both the natural splendor of his everyday surroundings and the affections of an obviously smitten colleague, that also suggest some level of despondency. So it is fair to say this movie doesn’t feature any sizable growth for its characters; however, the namesake isn’t underwritten. No doubt, putting a real-life character like Otto Jespersen in that role is partly why Hans is so fascinating—maybe even relatable.
Otto Jespersen as Hans the Troll Hunter.
There is always a small risk whenever using the term “mockumentary” to describe a found-footage movie, as the word could imply humor where there is none. In the case of Troll Hunter, the term’s usage is appropriate. Some folks have claimed the English-dubbed version has the more comedic tone, however, the Norwegian cut isn’t exactly humorless. Apart from the trolls’ absurd appearances, this is a movie where the characters nearly choke on the monsters’ farts, and Christians are like walking targets. Hans’ complete apathy towards everything is another cause of laughter. Overall, the comedy is intentionally dry and inconsistent. Unfunny, though? Absolutely not.
In a movie where endemic creatures are maltreated, as well as disavowed from living freely and peacefully, it’s hard not to notice the ecological message buried beneath the story. In addition to that is the unmistakable political satire. There is this whole business about intrusive and unsightly power lines—like trolls, they’re big blemishes on the land—that leads to what is perhaps the movie’s funniest moment. The scene in question is that one where certain electric lines, the ones secretly being used to keep the trolls at bay, go in a loop and don’t actually send power to any residents. Yet the monitors of said lines don’t find this at all weird. So it stands to reason that Øvredal was having a go at those who accept the government’s doings without question.
Looking past the fact that trolls aren’t actually real, this movie is an enlightening source of information. And not just for international audiences; Norwegians, too, get schooled about their homeland’s own mythology. It’s also evident from everything on screen that Øvredal and his crew were enthusiastic about the topic. The creature designs are the most indicative of that zeal; those imaginative yet myth-accurate manifestations are equally amusing and grotesque. One second you’re laughing at their phallic noses, the next you’re white-knuckling during a hairy sequence. Most surprisingly is how well the trolls’ visual effects hold up after fifteen years. It’s not all spotless, but on the whole, they remain impressive.
Vouching for a mockumentary about trolls isn’t easy, but those who do come around and give it a shot will more than likely be grateful for the recommendation. For Troll Hunter is a real find in that vast and varied genre we call “found footage“.
A bridge troll reaches up for food and finds Hans decked out in armor.
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