Every holiday demands a horror film. Filmmaker Mike Reeping targets Arbor Day in his horror-comedy short, Shrubs.
It’s Arbor Day in Evergreen, and everyone is gearing up for the town’s big centennial celebration, which ends with the grand dance at sundown. Sheriff Payton (Tom Reeping), fresh in his first year on the job, sits through a meeting with the mayor and city council, ensuring the festivities go off without a hitch. No need for extra security, they say. Famous last words. What nobody mentions is that Payton’s predecessor, Sheriff Bradley, was dragged off and killed in the woods by what the townies thought were rabid squirrels. But hey, that’s old news.
Out in those same woods, two young teens skip the parade and find a quiet spot to light up a joint. One bad decision leads to another when one of them takes an ax to the shrub-shrouded tree. It’s the last thing they’ll ever do. Meanwhile, a hunter pushes deeper into the forest when his dog bolts — gun in hand, which is exactly the wrong spot to be in these particular woods. Hours before the big dance kicks off, the two kids and the hunter are nowhere to be found. Sheriff Payton must find them before word gets around and ruins the celebration.
“Sheriff Payton must find them before word gets around and ruins the celebration.”
Watching Shrubs makes me think that making a horror film must be a blast — and getting your whole town in on it? Even better. Mike Reeping may not have drafted the entire town, but he’s got a big cast, and they’re all in — blood-squirting shrubs, death, dismemberment, the works.
Shrubs is decidedly a B-horror film on a very low DIY budget. For a film with no budget, it boasts a cast that’s in on all the fun, a good use of stock footage, and someone with a working knowledge of off-the-shelf visual effects. Reeping also pays homage to the holiday horror films of the last several years. Honestly, it should be the trees attacking, not the shrubs, but I’ll give it to him.
Shrubs takes on the challenge of an emerging filmmaker tasked with making a movie. Now the question is yours: which holiday are you going to horrify next?
"…Every holiday demands a horror film."
