“Cerce: Last Caress” is a short-film compilation heavy on Addams Family fashion, eerie Rob Zombie aesthetics, and the type of staccato editing that causes epileptic seizures.
“All in the Family” follows two bickering, female Manson Family wannabes into the ultimate act of sibling rivalry. “Lil’ Star Duster,” a psychedelic road trip slinking through Nevada casinos, Hollywood tourist landmarks, and Arizona deserts, is the most striking of the shorts. Animated babes, ringed fingers, burlesque dancers, and garish neon signs lace this peyote-drenched, “Natural Born Killers” styled coffin ride down the Highway to Hell. We’re also provided with a creepy, ex-girlfriend-on-the-rampage psycho-drama called “Streaks in the Mirror,” then shown how the short was re-edited into a rock video (Mr. Underhill’s “Killer Creature Double Feature”). There are respites from the horror imagery, like a visual ode to Vancouver’s Blinding Light Cinema, and “Let’s Do Lunch,” a blunt observation of phony social rituals.
If you take your entertainment jet black as a cemetery stroll, “Cerce: Last Caress” is sure to enchant with its macabre bag of grotesque images, dark humor, and raw social commentary. However, if you’re more into Reese Witherspoon than Vampira, and dig Donny Osmond over Danzig, look elsewhere.
