Trouble
2023 · 11m · USA
Directed by Jacob Chase
Genres: horror, musical, thriller
Tones: darkly comic, tense, theatrical
Set in 1952, a charming traveling knife salesman arrives at the mansion of a dying old man and breaks into a full Broadway-style musical number that masks sinister, vengeful intentions.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Knife salesman does a full Broadway number at a dying man's mansion. Sweeney Todd by way of Shyamalan is either inspired or a YouTube prank — Anthony Rapp's the only reason I'm leaning toward inspired.
Anthony Rapp performing a full Broadway number as a 1952 knife salesman, billed as Shyamalan-meets-Sondheim — the audacity of the hybrid is the entire pitch, and Chase has the credentials to land it. A genuine genre collision rather than a flavor.
A full Broadway song-and-dance number performed by Anthony Rapp as a 1952 traveling knife salesman, mid-thriller — that's a specific genre collision that depends entirely on the choreography and tonal control selling both halves. 11:29 runtime, 30K views.
Reviews
Trouble is, quite simply, a damn good time... one of the most unique films vying for a spot in the Live Action Short Film race.
Chase creates something wholly original, riffing on beloved musicals and giving it a vengeful edge.