Skip to content

Showbits

News, reviews & commentary on sci-fi & fantasy movies & shows

Menu
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Categories
    • Films
      • Reviews
      • Trailers
    • Star Trek
    • Television
    • Humor
    • Celebrities
      • Fade to Black
    • Potpourri
    • Star Wars
Menu

Summer Shorts: The Life and Death of a Pumpkin

Posted on Jul 23, 2010Feb 1, 2022 by Ken Gagne

Few actors and directors are talented at multiple genres. Michael Bay, for example, is known for directing explosive action films that lately have not been very good; conversely, James Cameron was as skilled at the character-driven science fiction of Terminator 2 as he was the sappy romance of Titanic.

For this reason and others, it is often effective for a person or team to choose a speciality to focus on and master, building a reputation for quality in their chosen field. But from a creative perspective, such dedication can be boring, and the temptation to flex one's artistic muscles is ever-present. Still, I never expected the creators of the ludicrously funny Star Wars satire series Chad Vader to investigate the horror genre, resulting in the excellent Life and Death of a Pumpkin:

This film won multiple awards at the Chicago Horror Film Festival in October 2006, a timeline that places the short's airing at around the same time Chad Vader made his own debut. I'm guessing Blame Society Productions, the team behind both shows, was at the time experimenting to find their niche and eventually settled on the comedic styles of the imperial day shift manager. But the above short demonstrates their talent at a diverse range of cinematic stylings. The macabre perspective, tremulous voice, and bittersweet climax remind me of another award-winning horror short, Unloved, which has also been featured here on Showbits. Among those qualities is the occasional effort at injecting Blame Society's trademark humor into the pumpkin's monologue, suggesting that the film is not meant to be taken seriously — yet it works whether you view it as as genuine and satirical horror.

Who are some of the actors or directors that you have found to be as effective as Blame Society at crossing genres?

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Tags: Chad Vader, Halloween, horror, independent films, Life and Death of a Pumpkin, pumpkin, summer shorts

1 thought on “Summer Shorts: The Life and Death of a Pumpkin”

  1. Steven Weyhrich says:
    Jul 23, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    Now I'm going to feel guilty about pumpkins…

    0

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts

  • A Pandemic Year of Moviegoing & Star Trek
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage to Alameda
  • Take care of yourself for Christmas 2020
  • Televisions shows for the pandemic
  • WordPress: The Final Frontier
  • Picard Will Make It So
  • Remembering Carroll Spinney
  • Reuniting The Next Generation's cast
  • A Christmas aboard the Enterprise NX-01
  • A Star Trek Christmas with family

Recent Comments

  • peterw on WordPress: The Final Frontier
  • peterw on A Star Trek Christmas with family
  • Ken Gagne on Rogue One is a one-hit wonder

Archives

News

  • CNN.com
  • ComingSoon.net
  • Dead or Alive?
  • STARTREK.COM
  • Superman News
  • TheForce.Net
  • Trek Nation

Resources

  • American Film Institute
  • Apple Trailers
  • Box Office Prophets
  • DVD Price Search
  • IMDb
  • Movie Mistakes
  • MPAA
  • Oracle of Bacon
  • RiffTrax
  • Rotten Tomatoes
  • TV Shows on DVD

Theater & Acting

  • Boston Casting
  • C.P. Casting
  • LDI Casting
  • NE Theater 411
© 2022 Showbits | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme