FCK’N NUTS *** USA 2023 Dir: Sam Fox. 11 mins
This short blast of Giallo and absurdity lives up to the title of Fck’n Nuts (2023). It’s not that crazy when you think that a certain Marvel Franchise has a talking tree person and animals. The first thing you notice in the blast of colors you get is reminiscent of the Adam West/Batman television series.
The short follows Sandy (Maddie Nichols) dressed like she fell out of Barbie (2023) or the ‘little pale girl’ from the beginning of Terrifier 2 (2022) depending on how you look at it. She reluctantly realizes that she has to break up with her boyfriend Dan (Vincent Stalba). Ominously odd parental dialogue is heard off-screen which sounds common yet there is a tinge of strangeness to the tone
Sandy is shocked when Dan shows up to profess his love to her despite her repeated statements to never come to her house because her parents are “fucking nuts”. Oddly Dan doesn’t care and in fact, says that many times to Sandy. In fact, so many times through a tear-streaked face, Sandy vomits on the porch. Dan calmly smooths or ‘squirrels it away’ and sits down on the spot to profess his sophistication in knowing wine. Dan will meet Sandy’s parents no matter what. Stepping into the home, one hears rustling and parent happy phrases for a visitor finally coming to see them. What could go wrong?
Dark shadows and bright colours like EC Comics abound as Dan is confronted with something he didn’t quite expect. He wasn’t barking up the wrong tree, what he confronted should make him think of what was scampers along a power line. The gore and peanutty feel and the screams echo around the home or lair.
Fck’n Nuts (2023) is just that, a surreal trip with some odd build-up. Similar to the Pixar Animation palette and a dash of the feature puppet horror Abruptio (2023) minus the gore. Could it be a feature, hard to say if the story is there either way it would seem like trapped in a deranged world of Willy Wonka, the literary work of L. Frank Baum, and the cotton candy machine. Two great tastes come together in this one.
Review by Terry Sherwood
Fck’n Nuts – TRAILER from Sam Fox on Vimeo.