SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! Another great talent enters the indie scene in the ultra-atmospheric experimental 5-minute short Death Drive, written and directed by first-time Canadian filmmaker Eli-Bella Wood. Death (Gary Staniloff) sits in a long black car up the street, watching your every move. A woman (Eli-Bella Wood) grabs a gun from a drawer, throws it into the glovebox of a blue car, and starts the engine to chase Death down. She speeds up and down streets in the neighborhood while Death stands still in his long black cruiser. This is before we meet the eerie neighbors (Bette Wood, Bill Robinson, Brenna Loch, Harry Willis, Barb). This is before the cowboy (John Scott) appears on his horse (Oz) out of nowhere. Because everything we see is out of nowhere, exactly where the movie is set.
“…Death sits in a long black car up the street, watching your every move…”
Wood’s stated intention in the making of Death Drive was to recreate her experience when dreaming and crafting a self-portrait from the figments. She completely nails the hazy logic of the subconscious, creating a nightmare staircase that climbs higher and higher. That she does this using the cinematic vocabulary of thriller realism adds just the right amount of grit. Her wild success in pulling this off is how well she utilizes all of her great influences. The whole scenario of facing off with Death in a black car, as well as the grindhouse poster, is reminiscent of Tarantino’s under-appreciated Deathproof. Also, the repeated fetishizing of the styling of the car’s exteriors and interiors by cinematographer Dante Costello echoes what Cronenberg did in his Crash.
The biggest influence here is the dream master himself, the recently departed Lynch. Wood is able to achieve those same rare feelings of surreal dread that were the high points of Mulholland Drive. This would be impressive for any filmmaker, but it is amazing, considering this is Wood’s first time out. Death Drive is the kind of sinister spin into oblivion that makes the indie world worth watching.
Death Drive screened at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival.
"…completely nails the hazy logic of the subconscious..."
