How many times have we all wanted to throw a steaming pot of coffee in our jerky boss’s face, then disembowel him or her with a paring knife and grab a fistful of entrails and…?
Oops.
In Heartless, a worker bee woman stands in for her employer and makes an important presentation to three smug businessmen in a corporate conference room. It’s the kind of sterile environment you’d expect in any gleaming steel and glass office tower where big shots do their thing. The presentation starts out normally, but things go downhill fast.
Sometimes, films play out some of the darkest, most twisted fantasies that the human mind can conceive of. The kind in which truly sick individuals and Turkish prison guards indulge. That’s where short films such as Heartless come in. They fill a niche that doesn’t ask, but DEMANDS, to be recognized.
Heartless is not your typical light entertainment — you already guessed that — but the kind of spectacle we all find appealing after a long day at the office or slaughterhouse.
“…this retelling of Poe’s Tell Tale Heart left me thirsty for more.“
And what’s the harm? Well-adjusted folk like you and me can watch the on-screen carnage and merely laugh at it. And I must confess, that’s what I did. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I was still laughing as I sat in Starbucks, and one person near me moved to the other side of the room.
It’s just 15 minutes long, but this retelling of Poe’s Tell Tale Heart left me thirsty for more.
Director Kevin Sluder sure knows how to shoot a good bloodletting. Lots of screaming, gouging and slashing — mayhem inspired by, who knows what? And who cares?
Don’t let the Edgar Allan Poe-thingy fool you. This ain’t no high-brow snooze fest aimed at folks who’ve had fancy book learnin’. It’s a movie that stubbornly refuses to grow a brain.
The story will squirm around in your skull the next time you’re sitting in a conference room suffering through some blow hard’s PowerPoint presentation.
Face it, stuffed shirts, smelly neighbors and telemarketers deserve zero tolerance, and Heartless is one movie with enough moxie to tell it like it is.
Go ahead, watch it when you can, and act accordingly — you’ll feel better.
Heartless (2018) Written and directed by Kevin Sluder. Starring Stacy Snyder, Joanna Sotomur, Matt Mercer, Blaine Vedros, Ron Morehouse, Melody Melendez, Lindsey McGee, Gabe Arredondo and Jennifer Sluder.
7.5 out of 10
