David French is a Piece of Shit and I Want Him Dead
2020 · 12m · UK
Directed by Mark van Heusden
Tones: dark, darkly comic
An up-and-coming rock band's support act steals the spotlight, sending their lead singer into creative crisis. When the frontman loses his spark, his bandmates devise a horrific plan to traumatize him back into artistic brilliance, testing the twisted theory that all great art comes from pain.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Bandmates plan to traumatize their lead singer back into artistic relevance, with music recorded before the shoot so actors could lip-sync the chaos. Title alone earns a watch.
Original music composed before filming so actors could perform to playback is a serious craft commitment, but the Klipist tags and Tarantino-reference register this as genre-circuit work rather than authored cinema. Capable rather than essential.
Klipist 11-minute piece, tagged "entertaining / gory / satirical" with a one-line synopsis and no festival info. The original-music-pre-recorded-for-playback claim would be the craft hook, but the page doesn't confirm it. Title is the loudest part.
Reviews
A filmmaking masterclass that screeches in on fire and maintains that in-your-face attitude.
Selected as Daily Short Pick for its sharp dark comedy and original post-punk score.
Festivals
- HollyShorts Film Festival 2020
- Kino London 2021, Best Original Score
- Twister Alley Film Festival 2021, Best WTF Short Film
- Austin After Dark Film Festival 2020