imagineNATIVE 26 FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW! For the best grindhouse short since the Ghetto Freaks trailer, seek out the mini-midnight masterpiece Klee, written and directed by Gavin Baird. It is set in 1885 Saskatchewan, where Ivan (Gin Fedotov) gives thanks to the Lord as his pioneer family waits to eat dinner. Outside in the night, a flash of light falls from the sky, with Klee (Seth Cardinal Dodginghorse) emerging from the smoking crater. A shapeshifting alien, Klee has adopted the form of a tall, handsome indigenous stud, well-hung with no stitch of clothing on.
Klee walking around with his enormous penis splitting the air, turns a lot of heads. Canadian Mounties fall beneath the power of his tallywacker, while pioneer women reevaluate the limits of manhood length. Ivan’s daughter (Hannah Brennen) is bowled over by Klee, and takes the opportunity to lure him aside for a ride on his giant gollysock. Splitten and smitten, Ivan’s daughter brings Klee and his big ole dick over to meet the parents. Meanwhile, the Mounties are looking for Klee, and the alien’s wonder weasel is growing longer and getting harder to hide.
“Klee is pure glee, pulling off a new post-exploitation classic.”
Baird really knows how to put on a show in the grand tradition of the back-alley barker. It is a clever condemnation of colonialism with a deadly reversal applied for fun, but Klee also has all of its hotcakes on display in the seediest old school finery. Baird remains true to the sexploitation format that inspired this short, including the full frame, shot on 16 mm look it is sporting. I do not remember seeing confirmation of whether real film stock was used. If it wasn’t, then I was completely fooled, as this looks like something that could have been released by Crown Pictures back in the day. The color shades achieved the genuine article, with that eerie richness of celluloid being used for nefarious purposes. This is the visual texture of alien sex at its best.
The grand finale of Klee is a complete exploitation showstopper, the kind of ending that starts riding that word of mouth for miles. It is also a direct tribute to the classic climax of the great Jamaa Fanaka’s cult blaxploitation 70s movie Welcome Home Brother Charles (a.k.a. Soul Vengance). Fanaka was a member of the same famous Black Filmmakers Rebellion that Charles Burnett and Julie Dash rose from, except Fanaka chose the grindhouse over the arthouse with his Penitentiary trilogy. The animation Fanaka used to pull off his big finish is improved by Baird, who still uses strictly practical effects. You will know it when you see it, and you will never unsee it again. Klee is pure glee, pulling off a new post-exploitation classic built with the finest heritage sleaze methods.
Klee screened at the 2026 imagineNATIVE Film Festival.
"…a new post-exploitation classic built with the finest heritage sleaze methods."
