Like so many towns in slasher films, Springboro has a set of rules for avoiding its masked killer; no booze, no drugs, no sex. But there’s also a fourth rule – don’t mess with Parker Campbell, the daughter of the Slasher. In Stephen Sawchuk’s new short film, Hell is a Teenage Girl, we find out the dark consequences of doing just that.
It’s Halloween and Parker (Skylar Radzion) is determined to lure her biological father, Springboro’s very own masked killer The Slasher, out of hiding for a showdown. She enlists both her best friend Reilly (Faly Mevamanana) into her scheme, as well as the empty-headed Brody (Kevin Osea). There’s also the small matter of the town’s mean girl, who really has some comeuppance coming her way.
Sawchuk doesn’t fall back on “indie production” or tricks like artificial film grain to mask the film’s lower budget. It really feels like a polished, modern production that just happens to end just when it’s getting good. I would love to see a feature that explores exactly how Parker’s fairly normal-seeming mom got hooked up with a monster that would eventually become The Slasher, for example. Is he just super hot under that mask?
Sawchuk’s vibe with Hell is a Teenage Girl is solidly in the horror-comedy vein, riffing on not just the classic slasher big names like Michael and Jason, but also adopting the polished and quippy tone of Scream or Happy Death Day. His cast and his script are laden with charm and even in its short 14-minute runtime, Sawchuk plants seeds galore that unfortunately don’t have room to flourish in the compressed format of a short.
That might be a feature, though, so to speak. Always leave your audience wanting more, they say, and Hell is a Teenage Girl does exactly that. Right after introducing it’s characters, it’s lore, and giving us one, ahem, hell of a first kill sequence, there’s still lots left on the table as the credits roll. Like most great projects, it leaves me wishing there were another hour tacked onto this thing. Alas, we’ll have to wait for Sawchuk to adapt this into a feature. Hopefully we all live to see it.
Stephen Sawchuk’s Hell is a Teenage Girl made it’s Canadian Premiere at the Fantasia Festival on July 21. For all our Fantasia coverage, watch this space!