Presented by Bloody Disgusting and Scotchworthy Productions, “Bloody Bites” is back for Season 17 on Screambox beginning today, and we’ve got the full lineup of this season’s shorts.
The top-performing original series on the Screambox platform spotlights up-and-coming voices in the genre, with each episode featuring two horror shorts from around the world.
First up, Season 17 kicked off today with the horror-comedy tale To Hell With You, the story of a dead college graduate named Brennan and an obnoxious demon named Doyle.
And that’s just the beginning of this season’s twisted delights.
The complete “Bloody Bites” Season 17 lineup includes…
To Hell With You
Director – Jason Sheedy
Synopsis – A fresh-faced college graduate named Brennan is full of hope, promise, and an obnoxious demon named Doyle. After a failed exorcism leads to Brennan’s untimely demise, his possessor is eager to steal his soul away to Hell to fill a quota. But an audacious angel, Esme, arrives just in time to stop Doyle from completing the heinous act, leaving Brennan to exist as a ghost in limbo while they sort things out. Since Brennan died while being possessed, his soul is Doyle’s to claim unless he can convince the stubborn demon to let him go. Esme insists that Brennan has led a good life but Doyle believes Brennan should share the guilt, and the punishment, for the sins of his serial killer father. With eternity at stake, Brennan is caught between a moral quandary of whether or not he truly deserves salvation, or damnation.
Director Statement – “Horror is an incredible genre because of all of the different ways it can be explored. As a filmmaker, I find it to be an incredibly satisfying space to play in, and To Hell With You was certainly no exception. I had just wrapped post-production on another horror short called The Reclaimers that leaned more into drama, so I was itching to do something wild and comedic. The initial idea for this film was inspired by all of the cartoons I’d watched as a kid where a character would seek counsel from an angel and a demon on their shoulders – their personified conscience. But I wanted to take that further and raise the stakes. So, instead of our character choosing between a right and a wrong decision, it was about our character deciding whether or not he was worthy of Heaven or Hell.
“I wanted to take an extraordinary situation with all of these radically different characters, lock them in a room, and force them into having a conversation. Underneath all of the blood and cursing, I think there’s also a lot of heart. For me, it’s the idea that we don’t have to be defined by the negative circumstances that might surround our lives. The main character in this film is lost in a state of self-reflection, trying to understand where he fits into the afterlife with a mother very deserving of Heaven, and a serial killer father already bound to Hell.
“For three characters that couldn’t be more different, they begin to realize they’re also quite similar, not unlike how the genres of horror and comedy are both unique in their own right but can work wonderfully together. I found a lot of joy in shaping that journey and I hope it all culminates into an entertaining, twisted, and maybe even a little sweet, experience for audiences.”
Vermin
Director – Kristen Semedo
Synopsis – Taylor’s wife, Anna, has just filed for divorce. The couple is in that break-up phase that’s completely raw. Anger and spite dwell. Some of Anna’s things still need to be picked up. Closure hasn’t come yet. Taylor has been left alone in their shared house as they begin negotiating their divorce. He isn’t keeping up with the things that normally fall under Anna’s care: the dishes, the laundry, the electric bill, and general tidiness fall to the wayside. A once stylish apartment is buried underneath sloppy disregard. But he isn’t concerned about any of that…not yet, anyway.
Taylor isn’t an abuser, and he isn’t a fundamentally terrible guy, but he is a product of a heteronormative culture that encourages straight men to marry a woman to replace their mothers. He’s emotionally stunted, emasculated by his failed marriage, and ultimately unwilling to accept his role in the fallout. Taylor is like many others. Not all good, not all bad. He just won’t get out of his own damn way.
He’s waiting for Anna to come grab her stuff, maybe to talk about the assets. He’s sad, almost pouting. When he’s finally had enough, he calls her and gets her voicemail.
“This is Anna soon-to-be-NOT-Fogherty, leave a message.”
And he does.
He has an opportunity here. To be vulnerable, or kind, or express humility. To be sensitive, compassionate. And he almost does, but can’t get the words out. What comes more naturally to him is contempt. Vitriol. Something that seems to come more naturally to men when they feel vulnerable. This choice will seal his fate.
Director Statement – “Vermin was the first script I ever wrote, and it was the first time I ever directed or produced anything. Vermin acknowledges the yawning chasm of loneliness and vulnerability that men often pretend they don’t feel. It’s as harmful to them as it is to anyone else. Taylor reeks of it.
“When I wrote Vermin, I was reading Carol J. Clover’s Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film and had just started my film analysis blog, The Aspiring Final Girl. So, it was subtext central for me, operating 24/7, and I was probably insufferable at parties.
“Until Clover’s book, I thought Final Girls were the most effective symbol of feminism in horror and that they justified my very “unlady-like” interest in horror (No, Mom, Nightmare on Elm Street is NOT a disgusting film; it’s an intellectual’s playground! God!)
“Those familiar with Men, Women, and Chainsaws know that by defining the Final Girl, Clover wasn’t saying they were liberated women; quite the opposite. To quote her here: “To applaud the Final Girl as a feminist development, as some reviews of Aliens have done with Ripley, is, in light of her figurative meaning, a particularly grotesque expression of wishful thinking. She is simply an agreed upon fiction, and the male viewer’s use of her as a vehicle for his own sadomasochistic fantasies; an act of perhaps timeless dishonesty.”
“While I’ve sometimes felt compelled to write female leads that align with my gender and experience, I wanted Vermin to be a fable about a man who suffers as much from patriarchal institutionalization. It asks what happens when men become the victims, most especially victims of themselves. Vermin is keeping pace with our current social consciousness.
“I combined these themes with my love for gothic ghost stories. I find it interesting that what haunts us is often a personal reflection of our current mental state, how we feel about ourselves and the world around us, and no two ghosts look the same. The spider motif was particularly important. Beyond the obvious black widow parallel, spiders are actually quite helpful creatures. They keep things tidy, keep the other pests away, yet we react with fear and disgust. Vermin was an intentional title choice as well. It’s very phonetically similar to the word women.”
All Kinds of Animals
Director – Becky Sayers
Synopsis – While packing up for tomorrow’s hike, Hannah’s mother insists that she brings bear mace for any surprise encounters along the way. As Hannah heads out the door the next morning, a can of bear mace is sitting on her front porch – a token of her mother’s protectiveness. After reaching the summit, Hanna discovers that her mother’s gift has life and death consequences when an interaction with another hiker takes an unexpected turn.
Director Statement – “My mother was the inspiration behind All Kinds of Animals. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest and now living in Colorado, I love hiking and I am no stranger to summiting peaks alone. While I find the solitude rejuvenating, it terrifies my mom. For years, she insisted that I pack bear mace in case I ran into trouble. In her mind, this was more likely trouble in the form of another human on the trail than an animal.
“I have a daughter of my own and I understand my mom’s concerns. Women are often forced to consider the worst outcomes during everyday activities. We are trained to approach life with vigilance and hyper-awareness of our surroundings.
“All Kinds of Animals offers a subversive take on this reality by flipping the expected gender power dynamic. I’m tired of viewing myself and other women as potential victims. All Kinds of Animals is my way of addressing this frustration, while paying tribute to my mom’s protective nature…all inside a playful, satirical package.”
Queen of the Underworld
Director – Stephanie Izsak
Synopsis – A woman recovering from addiction and the recent loss of her late husband begins experiencing sleep paralysis. She must discover if confronting the otherworldly phenomena will contribute to her healing journey or pull her deeper into the darkness.
Director Statement – “I wrote Queen of the Underworld mid-pandemic and newly in love. I couldn’t stop thinking about how destabilizing it would be to lose my partner at such an isolating moment. The film explores that search for inner fortitude after life has bent things sideways. It’s also a love letter to the scary coming-of-age films I grew up with – Return to Oz, The Goonies, Labyrinth – which managed to tell heartfelt stories of self-discovery while making things genuinely terrifying.”
Accidental Stars
Director – Emily Bennett
Synopsis – When a young actress named Nerissa started attending David’s acting class, she dreamed of becoming a star of stage and screen. But after months of struggling against his methods, she’s reached a breaking point. Desperate for his guidance and approval, she pays for a private acting session in hopes that she can reach a deeper sense of truth. But under his judgmental gaze, her sanity starts to crack. And as she struggles to maintain her grip with reality, a hysteria begins to take hold that might just be her salvation after all.
Director Statement – “I’ve been an actress for most of my life. And from boarding school to conservatoire training in London to private acting classes in New York City, I’ve honestly run the gamut of acting methodologies. I’ve employed every technique from the more controversial methodologies of the “Method” and Meisner, to the imagination based theories of Konstantin Stanislavski and Stella Adler, all the way to the more physical approaches like Michael Chekhov’s psychological gestures and Antonin Artaud’s surreal movement based theories of theatre of cruelty. But throughout my training, there is one constant question that I have to wrestle with every time I take a role. And that question is simply – Am I being truthful? Or, to put it simply – Am I being honest?
“This question became a source of existential distress for me at some point. And when I entered the working world of New York City, I was finally free from structured training. But I was also finally faced with someone I had been avoiding – Myself. I discovered that no amount of training could let me hide from myself. And that’s when a crisis occurred. Not an outward crisis, but an internal one. One in which my psyche felt malleable, breakable and even non-existent at times. I felt overwhelming fear all the time. Fear that I had wasted my time. Fear that I was no one. Even fear that I didn’t exist without a teacher guiding me towards being more honest, or giving me approval when I reached something they considered “truth.” I felt like I was always doing too much or too little, never settling into an actual sense of who I was.
“At a loss, I desperately reached out to various teachers and classes, searching for that approval again. But I was met with blank faces and shrugs. After all, no one could tell me who I was. I had to figure that out for myself.
“Accidental Stars is a film about that struggle. It’s about a young actress searching for a sense of self while holding her dreams tightly in her heart. And it’s about that psychic break that T.S. Eliot writes about in his poem Hysteria. It’s about a cognitive disconnect between individual and spectator. Between artist and teacher. And it’s about an overwhelming and unmanageable existential fear that ultimately swallows someone whole.
“But the fun of Accidental Stars is that the psychic break doesn’t lead where you might think. It leads instead to a kind of transcendence that, though surreal and unrealistic, might just be the freedom we’re all searching for. And maybe the elation artists feel when they reach their own sense of truth is actually the point after all.”
Mary Lou Attends A Wedding
Director – Alycia Ripley
Synopsis – It pays to stay polite. During a phone conversation with a friend, Mary Lou Maloney explains her disdain for and unhappiness with her boyfriend’s surly behavior and attitudes exhibited by the wedding party from a previous night’s event. Without seeing clues strewn throughout Mary Lou’s room or aware that her dialogue is laced with double-entendres, her friend doesn’t comprehend the truth that Mary Lou is not as she seems.
Director Statement – “I aimed to make a film in which the audience’s experience hinges on a reveal, and one they’d want to watch several times to catch all its clues. I hoped the female character could push the agency forward, and was appealing, convincingly intimidating, and within a context no one but the audience was privy to. The real-life motivation was my experience at a wedding: the bridal party’s behavior (and my boyfriend’s) was appalling. It was a perfect creative muse for the short. I hope the audience ponders whether they like, relate to, or are afraid of Mary Lou, and to what degree they understand her motivation and actions. As for a goal, I hope the reveal makes them gasp, laugh out loud, and consider their own actions and behavior going forward.”
The Mages of Rage and the Desecration of the House of Mimicry
Director – Jason Sheedy
Synopsis – Three bandmates – Johnny Buzzsaw, Ripper, and Kevin – decide to shoot a music video in the abandoned home of a mysteriously deceased punk rock legend. But once the amps are on, all bets are off. They awaken a sinister entity that takes the form of a mime – and he’s got an unending assortment of invisible weaponry that does very visible damage. With little hope left for survival, The Mages of Rage will have to fight back any way they can, or be silenced forever.
Director Statement – “A few months before making this film, my team and I were at a midnight madness screening, and we were absolutely sucked in with the large and riotous crowd as we sat through a barrage of incredible shorts that pushed the boundaries of horror and hilarity. It has since become one of my favorite theatrical experiences, and afterwards we were left with that itch to do something that would fit into that world.
“I’ve always been in love with the marriage of punk/metal music and horror films. There’s an energy the two give to each other that just feels right, and with this short, it became a very satisfying space to play in. Every decision was guided by what we thought would be a memorable experience for an audience. It was incredibly liberating and took us back to the style of films we all made as kids.”
Cheat Meal
Director – Drew Bierut
Synopsis – Suspicious that his girlfriend is cheating on him with her new personal trainer, Owen decides to take matters into his own hands. What he discovers is far more difficult to digest.
Director Statement – “When relocating to Los Angeles, I had to convince my girlfriend to come along. Uprooting her was a huge test for us and a strain on our relationship. But one of my clever selling points was that she would have a modicum of consistency in our new neighborhood because she would still have her favorite fitness chain, her beloved Barry’s Bootcamp….
“I have to admit I also love these fitness routines. I enjoy getting yelled at, and I’m entertained by how culty the whole brand is. So much so, I invited my actor/screenwriter friend (the lead in Cheat Meal) to start coming to classes with me. After doing a few classes with me, he confided that he’s struggled with a history of body image issues. Then our inspiration hit us.
“We live in a time where we’ll do anything to achieve perfection and earn the ideal body. So we thought what if we took that idea and pushed it to its most extreme? Cheat Meal was the product of that creative experiment.”
Fetal Position
Director – Joseph Yates
SSynopsis – A man braves a pro-life mob outside a clinic as he attempts to illegally abort his alien pregnancy in violation of the “Heartbeat Bill.” The nurse on duty fails to abort the alien, and baby Slugbert is born. When the police officer at the scene discovers Slugbert is an illegal alien, he changes his tune from protecting the unborn to ICE deportation. The pregnant man’s intergalactic baby mama arrives to rescue Slugbert in her spaceship.
Director Statement – “Although ostensibly about aliens, Fetal Position is in fact a satirical response to America’s malleable definition of human rights, dependent upon whether said human is pregnant, a fetus, an immigrant, etc. The film uses stylistic horror trappings on top of social commentary to paint a portrait of a world that is quickly becoming a real life science fiction dystopia.”
Skunk
Director – Derek Mari
Synopsis – 14-year-old Robbie attends to cleaning out his late grandmother’s house along with his father and brother shortly after her passing. In this small conservative town, political tensions simmer as the 2008 presidential election nears its conclusion. Robbie soon learns of Prop 8, a California proposition to ban same-sex marriage, and his fears about his own identity rise to the surface. When a neighbor confronts the family about the stench of a skunk coming from their property, Robbie’s anxieties begin to manifest in his physical transformation into a skunk. As he tries to hide the signs from his family, his brother soon catches on and Robbie learns that he won’t have to do this alone.
Genie
Director – Brandon Weavil
Synopsis – When a filmmaker struggling with writer’s block stumbles upon a flier for someone called “The Story Genie,” he thinks it’s fate, an answer to his prayers. The flier claims the Genie can cure writer’s block, can help him find a story to tell, help him finally finish a script. It seems perfect.
So, the filmmaker invites the Genie over to his apartment, and after a brief interrogation, the Genie surmises that the filmmaker doesn’t have a story to tell because he lacks life experience. Because he hasn’t suffered.
But the Genie intends to fix that. He intends to give the filmmaker a story to tell. Intends to make him suffer…
Director Statement – “Well, for starters, I’m a sucker for meta-narratives like this one. I wrote this as a short story back in college and it always stayed with me. When it came time to direct my first short, I was struggling to balance ambitions and limitations and budget. That’s when the short story came to mind.”
Start screaming now with SCREAMBOX on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, Fire TV, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.com.
Featuring the best short horror, thriller & sci-fi short films, “Bloody Bites” runs four new seasons each year (March/April, June/July, September/October, December/January).
The post ‘Bloody Bites’ Season 17 Premieres on Screambox With Horror Short ‘To Hell With You’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.