We Got a Monkey's Paw
2018 · 8m · United States
Directed by Aaron Pagniano
Genres: comedy, fantasy, horror
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, whimsical
Roommates Zack and Jakki spend a day making wishes on a monkey's paw, then frantically try to undo the cataclysmic series of events they have set off.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A monkey's paw wish-comedy that actually commits to the premise's anarchic potential instead of playing it safe—the escalation is genuinely unhinged, and the film never winks at you for laughing at something genuinely dark and weird.
Pagniano understands the lineage he's working in (Roald Dahl's body horror sensibility meets contemporary comedy editing), but the film's tonal wobble between whimsy and consequence keeps it from the formal cohesion that would elevate it into essential territory.
The brilliance is in the editing rhythm—how quickly the wishes compound and unravel, cutting between mounting chaos with this breakneck pacing that makes the 8 minutes feel like controlled disaster, all anchored by two performances committed to the escalating absurdity.