Snowmaniac

From Unhinged Pictures, the team behind such films as Lurking (2022), Prowling (2023) and Stalking (2023) as well as a slew of other indie horrors, now comes the nine-minute short film, Snowmaniac. As the title suggests, there is a play on the snowman theme going on, and as such the masked serial killer for today’s offering is sporting a gruesome snowman mask, complete with intimidating pointy carrot nose. This may suggest to some that Snowmaniac could be an homage, or a nod to, or at least have taken an idea or two from Jack Frost (1997), but seeing as that was straight to video, and about as much fun as eating yellow snow, we’ll just assume that nobody actually watched that crap.

Snowmaniac begins after a night out at a work’s Christmas party. Two friends are drunk and cold and need to find a way to get home. Quite why nobody has a mobile phone, or Uber on speed-dial, is anybody’s guess but anyway the two pals find a conveniently located telephone box, old-timey red for maximum authenticity, and set about phoning for a lift home. While the sensible one (Richardson; in shirt and tie) hangs out in the phone-box and does most of the communicating, the silly one (Skates; in garish Xmas jumper) complains, looks like he’s going to be sick, and takes a little wander away from the glare of the street lights to have a fag.

Now, we all know heading off on your own into the dark is cardinal sin #1 in horror/slasher terms, but then to commit cardinal sin #2, by leaving yourself in a vulnerable position, is just sheer folly, yet, when we get back to our overtly jumpered party-goer, this is exactly how we find him. Stuck fast to a road sign where his tongue has frozen to the pole, our jumpered friend then becomes an easy victim for the sub-zero slasher. Sadly, there’s no pre-empting this scenario, with no lead-in, no approach to the pole, no naughty thought flickering across the idiot’s face, and no furtive licking going on – he’s just there, attached, tongue frozen fast, with no explanation, and a six-foot snowman creeping up behind him – where’s the tension?

Similarly, we know that in a slasher flick with three characters there’s probably going to be a ceiling limit of two deaths, so you’d think you’d like to make them as creative and satisfying as possible. However, aside from the aforementioned tongue stuff, the Snowmaniac prefers to kill with silent stabs to the kidneys and such, leaving the viewer mostly disappointed by the gore on show. In the same vein, there’s no background to what’s going on and no explanation for the Snowmaniac – he’s just there. Without characterisation or motivation, the Snowmaniac becomes just a stock slasher in a new mask and this leaves the audience seriously wanting in terms of engagement.

In terms of direction and style, Snowmaniac shows off some impressive shots and some real skill, with H. Owen Richardson proving himself to be a better director than he is actor. The cinematography from Kai Hall is spot on, with crisp and clean shots throughout as well as an impressive use of lighting, and despite there not being a lot of dialogue or audio in the film, the dark reworking of Frosty The Snowman by Myuu is the perfect outro for this pared-down indie slasher.

While the technical side to Snowmaniac is all well handled it sadly doesn’t lift this standard, generic slasher flick into something more exciting. In the end all we’ve got is another twisted dude in a horror mask and a pun in the title on which to base the entire character, plot and style of the movie. There’s not enough of anything to hook the audience in, and while it may be easy to create an entire oeuvre by switching out different masks for each new killer, good films are rarely so easily made. Perhaps taking a little more time between projects, and really focusing on plot and characterisation, might help Unhinged Pictures to make their next film horrifyingly great.