Back at film school, we’d argue about the making of short films. The instructors insisted each project followed a three-act structure and fully rounded characters. There were some of us who had no use for diagramming and outlining. We wanted the short films to be all about creating a visual impact and gut punch emotions that scarred the eyes of audience members. Since students weren’t in charge of assigning projects or grades, the teachers inflicted their Three Act agenda. This led to painful nights of watching a series of student short films that I’ve mostly forgotten over the years. The Profane Exhibit brings together 10 horror shorts made by directors from around the world. I can guarantee that none of them would have been approved by my film instructors. All of them have moments that will stick in your eyeballs.
“Mother May I” is about troubled girls staying at home connected to a church and mausoleum. The place is run by nuns. While it’s a modern film, Sister Sylvia the head nun is all about hitting knuckles with rulers and using God’s Truth Serum on the girls. There’s dark stuff going on from self-flagellation to cutting. This was directed by Anthony DiBlasi (Dread). “Hell Chef” starts on the streets of Japan when a guy picks up a female wearing a mask and student suit. He drags her to his apartment where he appears to be dead from a box cutter incident. The masked girl’s older sister shows up in traditional clothes and an umbrella. She promises to clean up the apartment mess and fix her a good meal. Director Yoshihiro Nishimura is known as the Tom Savini of Japan. I’m not going to question that nickname. This movie will haunt me when I go to a Ramen bar.
“Basement” stars Hollywood legend Clint Howard (Ice Cream Man) and is directed by Uwe Boll. This was based on the infamous Fritzl case in Austria. Clint Howard hits his absolute creepiest. I won’t describe anything else other than you won’t believe Clint was the loveable boy from Gentle Ben. I don’t know if Clint showed this film to his brother Ron Howard.
“The Bridge” takes us to a scenic part of Italy where a woman with issues is hanging out on a bridge and encounters two sweet kids. This was the last project completed by Ruggero Deodato, the director of Cannibal Holocaust. “Tophet Quorom” takes us from a crime scene in an Italian city to the birth of twins in a bedroom. When one of the twins doesn’t make it, the mother swears her baby is alive and searches for him at night in the apartment basement. Director Sergio Stivaletti (Wax Mask) created the special effects for Dario Argento films from Phenomena to Dark Glasses. He saved up a bunch of gruesome visuals for the basement. This feels like it’s the highlights from the best movie during the last wave of Italian horror.
“Goodwife” has a businessman discussing his wife’s battle with cancer with a woman who is stripped down and handcuffed to the ceiling. Later he’d come home to his wife for sadistic time in the kitchen. Things change severally when the wife finds his stash of souvenirs. The short was directed by Canadian filmmaker Ryan Nicholson (Gutterballs). Sadly, Nicholson would die of brain cancer in 2019. “Mors in Tabula” has a doctor racing up to a remote house in the mountains of Germany during the 1930s. A young boy has an extreme case of diphtheria, and he conducts emergency surgery in their living room. The family dog is eating the discarded bits of the boy. It was created by German filmmaker Marian Dora (Cannibal).
“Sins of The Father” opens with an old bald guy naked in the bottom bunk of a kids bunk bed. At some point a man in bondage gear and a gas mask steps inside. There’s a voice talking to the old man and a younger man that enter the bedroom. This seems to be a weird experiment in revenge. Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo had also contributed to other short films feature films including The ABCs of Death and V/H/S Viral.
“Manna” switches between weirdness in the woods, a fetish night at a club and a more solitary bondage experience. Things devolve to some perfectly freakish imagery involving blood, tongue removal, a dirty mattress and cannibalism. What it lacks in plot, it more than makes up in stomach churning special effects. Director Michael Todd Schneider is beloved for playing Maggot in August Underground Mordum. Jeremy Kasten’s “Amuse Bouche” is an extremely short film in reverse about at tow truck driver on a winter day. Kasten also created the bumpers between the shorts. The bumpers are close ups of what happens at a butcher’s market when you don’t want to know what the meat is.
I appreciate that so many of the films in this collection get to the core of their stories without mimicking a feature film’s three act structure. The directors are eager to get to the shock. Normally when watching an anthology film, you find yourself declaring winners and losers. The Profane Exhibit doesn’t have any lame entries. There’s something horrific that can be appreciated in every short. You’re not going to hit the chapter forward button. “Basement” has Uwe Boll take us to a level of disgust that you never imagined coming from Clint Howard. Even when you think you know where Ryan Nicholson is going in “Goodwife,” he finds a twist that twists back on itself for a disturbing finale. This is a rare anthology film that works as a whole. The Profane Exhibit provides an international blend of nightmare fuel.
The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic while a few of the pieces do go 2.35:1. The video looks as gross as you want it. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 stereo with the languages varying from English, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese. The subtitles are in English and Spanish. There’s also an option to only subtitle the foreign language shorts.
Audio Commentary by Director Michael Todd Schneider and Producer Amanda Manuel and Ultra Violent Magazine’s Art Ettinger get into how the project came together. After a breakup, she decided to spend her European getaway money on a film instead. They talk about various segments. Manuel also wrote “Mother May I” which was inspired by her grandmother growing up in a convent school.
World Premiere Interview (13:29) is producer Amanda L. Manuel and director Michael Todd Schneider talking at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival. They met back in 2010 and made the film in Edmonton, Canada. There’s an Off Beat Cinema logo on the wall behind them. They get into going from a short film to the anthology. How they hooked up with other directors.
World Premiere Q & A (34:28) has producer Amanda L. Manuel and director Michael Todd Schneider talking about the film. This was shot by someone in the audience so the sound will require you to turn up the volume. The whole project started with their short film “Manna.” They talk about the original script.
A Mini Documentary ‘Ten Years Later’ by Marian Dora (14:58) has us learn how the German director became part of the film. The actors are talking the film since Dora doesn’t want his identity made public. The child actor (now a bit grown up) is still grossed out at what he did for the role. This is in German with English subtitles.
Sergio Stivaletti’s Tophet Quorum (14:25) takes us into the basement with the director. We get a bit of how his special effects were achieved.
Awakened Manna (23:51) has Michael Todd Schneider a different cut of his short film. The recut is less abstract as we discover what happened to get the guy in the disturbing bondage space. There’s actual dialogue during a ritual. Going abstract really helped this short film.
Tiffany Blem Interviews Michael Todd Schneider (13:01) and he swears he saw Star Wars when mom saw it when she was pregnant. He gets into dealing with respected international directors. How did this influence this project when others he idolized contributed. He gets into working with Clint Howard. The movie is about having zero clue about your neighbors. He shot at an adult video studio’s basement set.
Tiffany Blem Interviews Uwe Boll (12:01) names Marlon Brando’s Mutiny of the Bounty as an inspiration film. He talks about having to go to theaters to see horror because they weren’t coming to TV and there was not VCR action.
Tiffany Blem Interviews Amanda Manuel (10:52) has her explain how she went from her segment to creating an international anthology. She’s thrilled that after all this time The Profane Exhibit is finally coming to home video after the festival circuit.
Tiffany Blem Interviews Jeremy Kasten (20:48) on her video podcast. Kasten gets into what horror movies were hugely influential. He talks about going deep to find VHS films of Salo and Cannibal Holocaust. He sees Texas Chainsaw Massacre as an art film. He original started on The Profane Exhibit as an editor. He mentions the pig being butchered was raised by him.
Production Gallery (12:03) is a montage of posters, press photos and behind the scenes shots from the various shorts.
Trailer (1:51) gives clips from the various short films.
Unearthed Films present The Profane Exhibit. Directed by Uwe Boll, Ruggero Deodato, Marian Dora, Sergio Stivaletti, Ryan Nicholson, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Nacho Vigalondo, Michael Todd Schneider, Jeremy Kasten and Anthony DiBlasi. Starring Clint Howard. Running Time: 110 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: September 24, 2024.
