In his short film Stomach It, Peter Klausner tells a horror story about a man in a thankless job. Joel (Jon Lee Richardson) works as a crime scene cleaner whose job is to clean biohazardous material after the police have done their investigation. I suppose someone has to do it.
While cleaning, Joel feels an eerie attraction to the possessions of the deceased, such as a wooden toy horse. He is so overworked and exhausted that he exists in a liminal space between reality and dreams. To make matters worse, Joel must take on another job no one wants. In his current mental state, the lines of reality are blurred in horrific ways.
“…Joel feels an eerie attraction to the possessions of the deceased…”
The standout moments of Stomach It are the glorious crime scenes. There’s blood, guts, and vomit everywhere. Writer/director Klausner sets the stage perfectly, evoking horror and nausea from the outset. The film then leads into Joel’s state of mind, portrayed beautifully by Jon Lee Richardson. It all comes together in a terrifying body horror ending.
In the end, Peter Klausner delivers a short film that not only shocks but also dares us to confront the darkest corners of the human mind when pushed to its limits—threatening to turn us physically inside out.
"…the lines of reality are blurred in horrific ways."
