Wild Will
2019 · 12m · Australia
Directed by Alan King
Genres: experimental, horror, thriller
Neighborhood dogcatcher William Page is found wandering the streets disoriented and brought back to the local police station for help — but the situation rapidly disintegrates into hell on earth. A minimalist single-location horror shot solo by King in his own kitchen for under $50 AUD.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
King's one-man kitchen apocalypse resists every rational instinct—it shouldn't work as horror, shouldn't work as narrative, and certainly shouldn't work shot solo for $50—which is precisely why it does, swallowing you whole before you realize there's no escape route.
A formally austere meditation on control and dissolution that sits uneasily between performance art and genre filmmaking; King's solo execution creates a claustrophobic grammar that recalls early video art more than conventional horror, though the effect is entirely its own.
The entire film hinges on King's choice to shoot himself deteriorating in real time without cutting away—that commitment to the long, unbroken witnessing of a single mind unraveling is what transforms a zero-budget kitchen into something genuinely unsettling.
Reviews
A brilliant stroke of minimalist filmmaking — tense, innovative and a fresh take on some classic horror tropes.
Un piccolo capolavoro (a small masterpiece).
Named one of the Top 10 foreign short films at the 2019 Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival.
Festivals
- Brisbane International Film Festival 2019, Jury Award — Innovation in Form
- Castrovillari Film Festival 2019, Best Experimental Film
- Sorsi Corti Film Festival 2019, Best Experimental Film
- Short Days IV 2019, Best Short Film
- Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2019
- Bucharest Short Film Festival 2019