After an incredibly successful festival run, including Best Short Film of 2020 at the British Urban Film Festival and being selected as one of the Short Film Market Picks for the 2021 Clermont Ferrand Film Festival, the fantastic horror short from Paul Holbrook and Sam Dawe of Shunk Films has finally arrived online.
This film has gained a huge amount of traction during its festival circuit run and clearly had a ready and waiting online audience, racking up over 2000 views on the Alter YouTube platform in under an hour.
Maintaining the Shunk Films mission of telling stories based in working class scenarios, Hungry Joe follows a single mother (Laura Bayston) who struggles to satisfy the appetites of her son who won't stop eating. As his hunger grows and Joe becomes steadily more terrifying, we watch the dream of motherhood transform into an unrelenting waking nightmare.
We managed to catch up with co-director Paul Holbrook in an interview on our podcast last June where he shared some fascinating insights into the origins of the film and the underlying social themes in the story. You can catch the whole episode below.
Additionally, if you want a full breakdown of our take on the film, you can catch our Watchlist Review for Hungry Joe here.
With Hungry Joe making its online debut and upbeat coming of age short film Shiney still making the festival rounds (you can read our Watchlist review of that film here) not to mention latest offering Hollow still in post-production, it is fair to say that we may be witnessing the coming of age of a true British filmmaking powerhouse.
Click to check out Hungry Joe over on Alter or Short of the Week. Content warning: For mature viewers only.
Studio: Shunk Films | Year: 2020 | Genre: Horror | Duration: 22 Mins | Suitability: Mature - Scenes of gore and violence
Cast:
Crew:
Directors: Sam Dawe & Paul Holbrook | Producers: Sam Dawe, Paul Holbrook, Sonia Wargacka | Writers: Sam Dawe & Paul Holbrook
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