Fantastic Fest 2023: Sam Fox's Short Film "Fck'n Nuts" Lives Up To Its Name
Meeting the parents is next level nuts for this lovestruck man.
Dating can be scary enough, but it’s even more terrifying — and hilarious — when your parents are fucking nuts. This is precisely what writer/director Sam Fox explores in latest short, the aptly titled and ridiculously entertaining Fck’n Nuts. This horror-comedy hybrid lives up to its name — and in more than one way — taking audiences on a lush and ludicrous 10-minute ride full of potent atmosphere, zany hilarity, and uncanny creepiness. Think of it as a triply, neon bathed, surrealist-absurdist Meet The Parents with oozing pores, and you’re close to the feverish delirium this wonderful short cooks up.
The film centers around Sandy (played by Maddie Nichols), a melancholy teenager, who is grievously forced to break it off with the boy of her dreams, Dan (played by Vincent Stalba), in order to avert him from meeting her unusual parents. However, when Dan shows up against Sandy’s wishes, his love and commitment will be put to the ultimate test, resulting in fanciful fright, amusing camp, and grimy grotesquerie. Will his love be as undying as it seems to be, or will his sensitivity to the situation get in the way of his potential relationship?
From the first frame, you’ll be pulled into the film’s otherworldly vibe by the absolutely stunning cinematography from Daniel Waghorne and Fox’s strong compositional eye. Both give the project a painterly quality and a striking aesthetic style that’s overflowing with texture and color. The whole visual look is made even more tactile and lived in thanks to the incredible production design from Brooke Cellars, which mixes the dank and dingy interiors of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the predatory foreboding of Norman Bates’ taxidermy-filled motel office. The mood is made sonically complete by the eerie and ominous synth score laid down by Scratch Massive, which brings to mind the similarly trippy and psychedelic soundtracks for Good Time and MANDY.
As you might have surmised, Fck’n Nuts is an intoxicating and transportive audio/visual treat with a lot to like, but if you’re anything like us, the moment you’ll fall in love with it will be when Stalba’s Dan casually brushes a fresh pile of Sandy’s vomit off the porch and proceeds to plop down in it so he can be next to her, a wonderfully comedic gesture that perfectly captures both his unwavering commitment to Sandy and the film’s campy tone. Stalba and Nichols each dial in solid performances that are well pitched to the material’s oddity. They not only earn the laughs, but they give the film a sincere emotional weight that heightens the stakes and adds to its mounting tension.
As it creeps toward its horrifying conclusion, a twist whose punchline shouldn’t be as much of a shocking surprise as it is (which is another testament to Fox’s talents), you will be simultaneously repulsed and howling with laughter. The sickeningly creamy horrors of its final nutty moments are the cherry on top of this wonderfully bizarre gem, and they’re nicely realized by Emma Badon (whose father, Joe — another strange cinema guru operating on the indie circuit — also serves as creative producer). Even though the short plays like a setup to a genuinely funny joke, it denies the potential impulse of being a one-note sketch by giving its audience some dark and substantive things about love and family to chew on as the credits roll.
Looking for more fantastic fun?! Check out the links below:
Sister Tempest review
The Blood Of The Dinosaurs review
Fantastic Fest reviews
Fantastic Fest podcasts
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!