BEHIND THE LENS #542: Featuring Matt Stuertz

It's not only the last Monday in October, but it's Halloween week, and that means BEHIND THE LENS is celebrating the holiday with blood and gore and fun. I've had quite a few horror and thriller films this month to pick from for today's show, but I've settled on one that is Bloody Bonkers Brilliance – HUMAN from writer/director/editor/sound mixer MATT STUERTZ.

BLOODY BONKERS BRILLIANCE are the three words that perfectly encapsulate the gloriously demented, outrageously entertaining, blood-soaked cinematic insanity that is HUMAN. A frenetic, frenzied, visually dazzling supernatural horror extravaganza that embraces the absurd while remaining grounded in something surprisingly fundamental: the emotions that make us human. And thanks to a balls-to-the-wall performance by Jackie Kelly, cinematography by David Christopher Pitt that would make Technicolor guru Natalie Kalmus rise from her grave demanding a Technicolor credit, some ingenious editing, and a soundscape that alternates between sensory overload and terrifying silence, HUMAN is one helluva ride!

HUMAN follows Dani Ferris (Jackie Kelly), who is alone and exhausted past the point of reason. It's past midnight and she's all alone. Away from home. Tired as hell. Not prepared for the roller coaster of emotions she's about to ride front-row. Sleep? Nope. What she wanted is a little tease of digital debauchery before bed. What she's going to get is a blood-drenched supernatural nightmare of horrors and heartbreak as tonight is a night for friends, lovers, enemies, frenemies, little guns, bigger guns, love, hate, life, death, and things a hell of a lot more super than natural. A night Dani will never forget. And neither will he. Tonight, every relationship is a gamble and every hour brings a new threat as Matt Stuertz keeps the pressure rising as Dani rides a roller coaster of emotions she never saw coming.

Happy Halloween!