I am a huge advocate for the obscure and creative. As you would guess this short film is about a microwave that sucks up and kills people. Before you pass judgement you really should watch it. You may be surprised at how much you liked it .... the same way I did.
Review
This is a self shot film with one actor in it. There are almost no lines outside of some noises being made. The total run time is 4:59. There is really something beautiful about this type of work. There have been films made about killer sofas, killer piñatas, and even killer llamas (Llamageddon). So why not a common household product? I have seen every movie that I listed, but let me tell you why this one is better. You get the same amount of entertainment for a fraction of the time. Honestly, these type of films don't work when they are an hour long. They aren't meant for that. Jay Salahi has done some crafty filming along with practical effects to sell this one, and I bought right into it, and I am happy that I did. My appreciation for B horror and short films has been growing and Jay's contribution has definaetly added to it.
Here is a link to the film for your viewing:
Interview with Jay Salahi
Q. What got you interested in film making?
A. My mom always says as a toddler I never would sit still or shut up. I was always crying or running around yelling, but the moment you put a movie on I would sit quiet and pay full attention through the whole runtime. So I was always interested in movies. I was just eight years old when I decided I wanted to be a filmmaker. Having already been obsessed with Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, and all those classics I always dreamed of going on the adventures those characters had. So when I watched the making of Jurassic Park at 8 I realized that the only way to experience actually going to “Jurassic Park” or to be Indiana Jones is to make the movie! That multi year journey of creating that world and story. That experience, enjoyments, turmoil and troubles, that’s the best way to live the adventure that the characters are actually going on and feeling in that movie.
Q. What is your favorite horror film (other than yours)?
A. Most of my favorite movies while not traditional horror films all are horror films at heart or are infected with them. Jaws, Jurassic Park, and Alien. More traditional horror you can’t go wrong with the classics like Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Scream. You can also see by this short I love the genre B horror and Sci films.
Q. How did you come up with the concept for this film?
A. A person getting pulled down a hallway or floor into a dark room is easily one of the most used tropes in movies. One night at 3am making a microwaved burrito I thought, Huh, I wonder if I could fit my body through this. What if someone got sucked into one. And that was it. Just wanted to make a fun like crazy visual horror short because my first feature Northwood Pie was much more traditionally shot, dialogue heavy, stoner comedy. So I wanted to do the exact opposite of that.
Q. How long did it take to make this film from shooting it to completion of the edit?
A. I definitely bit off more than I can chew with the shoot for this. The short is 74 cuts and 72 shots. I tried to get all that done in 2 nights. So it was stressful but fun. We were successful enough. We ended up going back and just getting a few make up shots a week later. No crew it was just myself and the actor. The editing and music took about 2 months to lock down but I was very happy with the result. Used a lot of Nightmare on Elm Street soundtrack outside temp. I also make full shot by shot/cut by cut visual story boards. The finished product usually matches 90%+
Q. I know you have a short film coming in the near future, when can we expect to see that release?
A. Yeah I just shot my new short and it’ll probably be premiering around January. It’s a slightly different style of horror. It is just a very simple four minute extended horror scare set piece that work as a pitch piece or a concept for the feature film I’m shooting next fall, but it still has 3 acts and works as its own little movie.
Q. Next year you are planning a big release for a film you are working on. Can you offer any insight on it to the readers?
A. Not quite next year. Next year I will be shooting my next feature so 2024 is when it will actually start to be seen. I hope to raise close to $100,000 and I shoot in September. We have raised half, but the short I just shot is kind of the last part of the pitch packet along with the script, concept art, and so forth. When it's all said and done I expect the film to have a decent sized release hopefully on a platform like a Hulu, Netflix, or Shudder. Definitely will be sharing more inflation with you as the prices goes along and the resort comes out early next year.
I have to thank Jay for his time with this interview. Until his next project comes out you can always go check out his first featured film Northwood Pie. He made it for just $12,000 on weekends with friends. Northwood Pie is a coming of age stoner rom-com in a pizza place. It currently is lucky enough to have a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes from cricks and be streaming world wide. A link to learn more about that film can be found below:
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