A young teen is finally invited to the popular girls’ party in Geena Hernandez’s short film, Chicks. Polly (Nikole Davis) arrives at the front door of the popular Lizzie’s (Jena Brooks) mansion. Lizzie, Kelly (Maddie Moore), and Jazz (Lilliana Simms) are there to greet her because they’ve wanted to hang out with Polly for a long time. With Lizzie’s parents gone and alcohol on tap, Polly is in for the night of her life.
The party starts when the girls coax Polly into her first drink. Que the reckless antics montage. This sleepover gets crazy in a way only teen girls know how to do. Polly is having too much fun and rushes off to the bathroom to throw up, but… she’s coughing up blood and something she didn’t expect.
“Polly is having too much fun and rushes off to the bathroom to throw up, but… she’s coughing up blood…”
Chicks mixes in a bit of horror and WTF to our short film viewing fare. Writer-director Hernandez sets up Polly as the young innocent, and once the reveal occurs, the filmmaker slowly escalates the crazy, setting up an interesting arc for our heroine. The film has an excellent cinematic look, and the events get pretty elaborate for a low-budget indie short. However, I wish it played up the horror and gore a bit, as it comes off as a little too safe in the end. I’m always looking for moments where the boundaries of storytelling can be pushed to their limits.
Chicks stands firmly in the WTF genre, and Hernandez’s takes on “chicks” makes her short a fun and strange watch.
For more screening information, visit the official website of Chicks.
"…a fun and strange watch."
