Récompence (2010, Ronny Carlsson)

"Récompence" is a bleak 25-minute 'arthouse'-horror flick, directed by Ronny Carlsson of filmbizarro.com. Like many of these types of surrealist, visionary films, the premise seems to be up for interpretation from the viewer. Or else I'm just an idiot who can't fully grasp subtext... Eh.

A woman - whom we see driving through the country with a guy (boyfriend or husband... or brother) - is crawling through the woods, covered in dirt and clearly injured. She comes across a house where she spots a ghostly blank-faced, robed figure peering out of a window. After entering, she finds the figure sitting across the room where he proceeds to disembowel himself. Our lady gets rather 'intrigued' and a bit riled up by this macabre display and peels off her top before munching on some innards. More staggering through the woods and, eventually, she happens upon another (or maybe the same) figure whom she has some kind of bizarre, intimate moment with...

I gotta say, "Récompence" is a pretty well-made short. It's got a cool, desaturated black-and-white look, no dialog and is skillfully and effectively shot. The tone of the film is gloomy and nightmarish with a visual aesthetic that reminded me of E. Elias Merhige's "Begotten". Also a decent amount of gore and some satisfying full-frontal female nudity to help it along. Recommended. And check out Carlsson's site http://filmbizarro.com.