The Procedure
2016 · 4m · USA
Directed by Calvin Lee Reeder
Genres: dark comedy, experimental, horror
Tones: absurdist, dark, surreal
A man is abducted and wakes strapped to an operating table in a featureless white room, his eye propped open, subjected to a bizarre and unexplained experiment by unseen forces.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Four minutes, one room, no explanation, Sundance Jury Prize — this is what happens when a filmmaker refuses to give the audience the comfort of knowing what the hell is happening.
Calvin Reeder strips horror to white-room essentials — single victim, eye propped open, zero explanation, four minutes — and wins Sundance Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction with it. The absence of backstory is the entire formal argument; that's a real bet, properly made.
Sundance Short Film Jury Award winner, four minutes, one room, no explanation — Reeder strips horror to its molecular weight. The absence of context is the horror; perfect form.
Reviews
Reeder is not a hack artist simply going for a cheap reaction; he has something to add, stylistically, to the genre film landscape.
Festivals
- Sundance Film Festival 2016, Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction
- Fantastic Fest 2016, Award Winner