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Black Widows

Olivia, Darcy, and Nora watch in shock as unexpected things happen yet again.

We all know someone who seems to have terrible luck with relationships. In Black Widows, that’s Darcy (Jordan Elizabeth). She’s naturally trusting, the men she meets are all jerks, and given those two problems her friends have decided to stage an intervention. Nora (Brigitte Graham) is the pushy but protective older sister type, while Olivia (Shelby Kocee) is, in Darcy’s words, the matriarch of the group. Of course, neither one is really qualified to stage a relationship intervention, given that their own love lives are a mess, but they mean well.

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Blood on the Leaves

Country out walking through the gorgeous, er, countryside.

In Philadelphia, an inner-city African-American kid (Imani Khiry) is stuck with a dead body to get rid of. In rural Pennsylvania, a middle class white man (Bill Nally) goes out bow hunting for the day, trying to forget his worries about money. And in Blood on the Leaves, the two of them manage to run into each other in the middle of the woods with serious and strange consequences.

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L.A. Contagion

Some of the guys out hunting in their makeshift riot gear.

This might just be me, but I’ve always assumed that the only people having fun at the average baby shower are the guest of honor and whoever is hosting said shower. The makers of L.A. Contagion take this theory one step further and present a baby shower where no one’s having any fun at all, certainly not after the contagion of the title starts doing its thing.

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Dark Cove

Ian looking angry. The scenery's gorgeous if you look past the blood.

A group of friends piles into a car and heads out into an isolated area for a much-anticipated chance to get away from it all. No, this isn’t Consumption again; this is a movie called Dark Cove, about a camping trip on the beaches of Vancouver Island. For once a movie was filmed in Canada without Canada doubling for someplace else.

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Play Violet for Me

Foley and Violet. Or is it Lyla?

Every night Violet and her sister Lyla (both played by Najarra Townsend) are at their usual bar, as are their admirers Foley (Matt Mercer) and Remy (John Paul Romeo). Violet is the sister who attracts all eyes; Lyla is less showy but just as attractive in her way. These facts are clear enough in the noir short Play Violet for Me, but beyond that you’re left guessing based on the fascinating, tantalizing clues the movie slowly gives you.

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Consumption

This is Mallory. She's not having the best of days.

One crisp winter’s day, four friends decide to head up to the mountains of Utah for a vacation. The family of one friend, Seth (David Lautman) has a condo there, and it’s a great place to get away from it all and relax. And they all seem like they really need to relax. Sounds like a good plan, right? Don’t let it fool you.

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Sloven

Steve drinks to forget how messy his apartment is.

Steve (Baker Chase Powell) has roommate problems. You see, Brian (Scott Aschenbrenner) is something of a slob — a sloven, as the title says — and Steve is tired of cleaning up after him, especially when Steve is busy trying to get ready for a Halloween party. There certainly is a lot of cleaning up to do, so I don’t blame Steve for being annoyed. It seems as though Brian uses more plastic cups in a shorter time than any human being should. And Brian is so disorganized he can’t even remember to bring his costume to the party.
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