Night of the Hell Hamsters & Eel Girl

Genre - Horror/Short

Year Released - 2006

Running Time - 15 minutes 50 seconds

Directed by Paul Campion (this is his directorial debut)

Written by Paul Campion [*Hadyn Green & Mike Roseingrave also contributed to the story]

Cast Includes Stephanie Ratcliff & Paul O'Neill

Rating: 5 Skulls

Plot Summary:

On a dark and stormy night, a young babysitter [Julie] and her boyfriend [Karl] begin to fool around with the occult and inadvertently summon up a demon which possess the family hamsters.

Suddenly Julie and Karl find themselves fighting for their lives against a tiny, furry, bloodthirsty supernatural evil from the very pits of hell!

Review:

Directed by Paul Campion [who was a visual f/x artist on such films as The Lord of the Rings, Sin City, 30 Days of Night, Prince Caspian, Eragon, Fantastic Four 2, and X-Men 3, just to name a few] this 15-minute short will remind you of Peter Jackson's earlier works!

The film starts off with Julie [the babysitter] watching some sort of were-rabbit horror film. [the kids are asleep at this point]

Suddenly, her boyfriend, Karl arrives, and he brought along an ouija board to play with - problem is, he just brought the box - the board is not inside. So, Julie decides to make her own, out of the kid's alphabet toys. [meanwhile Karl is poking at the children's hamster, in its cage, when it bites his finger] Karl meanders back over to Julie, to see what she's up to. Julie takes his bitten finger and squeezes out a drop of blood onto her home-made ouija board, christening it.

Julie & Karl then decide to summon forth a fictitious demon by the name of Spozgar. When the board starts to act on its own accord, and declares that Spozgar is there, lightning suddenly strikes the home and [coincidentally] strikes the hamster's cage, frying the little buggers inside.

Karl then goes over to investigate the dead hamsters, lifting the fried carcass of one up by its tail, when suddenly its eyes began to glow red and it attacks Karl, biting him on his nose/nostril.

Karl tosses the hamster away, only to have it scurry back and crawl up his pant leg!

Hilarity & horror ensues, especially when Karl's gnawed off finger [or penis - I really couldn't tell which, which my wife tells me is pretty sad - if it was indeed his penis...] falls to the floor.

Anyway, with Karl out of commission, Julie prepares to battle the demon possessed hamsters, tying her hair up, duct-taping her pant legs [smart!] and grabbing a frying pan and a butcher knife. . .

I don't want to tell you anything more, as you need to see this one for yourself!

[I will tell you that one scene involves a cricket bat, which brought back memories of Shaun of the Dead!] Also, near the end, we find out that this situation has apparently become an epidemic [Julie receives a call from someone that guinea pigs ate their mother!] *Here's hoping for a sequel! :-)

Here is the trailer for Night of the Hell Hamsters:


For more information, be sure to visit http://www.nightofthehellhamsters.com/

Or you can go to http://www.indieflix.com/ to buy the DVD [which includes a "10-minute making-of feature] for only $5.95! Or you can even just stream the film [only] for $1.95! Well worth the money!

When I received Night of the Hell Hamsters, Paul also included his newest short film:

Genre - Horror/Short

Year Released - 2008

Running Time - 5 minutes 18 seconds

Directed by Paul Campion

Written by Paul Campion

Cast Includes: Julia Rose & Euan Dempsey

Rating: 5 Skulls

Plot Summary:

In a secure military laboratory, a scientist has become obsessed with the half-human/half-eel creature that he's been studying.

When she beckons him to her, it is the call of a siren. . .

Review:
If you are like me, you must be asking yourself what can possibly happen in 5 minutes? I asked myself the same thing, and believe me, when I say that plenty can happen!

The film starts off with a military [Navy?] officer entering a secured room to inform a scientist that he is needed in the briefing room. There is another scientist in the room as well, and the scientist being informed begins to spout protocol [apparently it isn't a very good idea to be left in this room alone, for reasons you'll find out in just a few short minutes time!]

Outside of this room, beyond a pane of glass, lies this tub - filled with a black, viscous liquid:


and within the tub - is the eel girl:


As soon as the other scientist leaves the room, the remaining scientist quickly begins to enter over-ride commands, calling forth the eel girl, to come into the room with the tub. We see a door open, and a webbed hand curl around its frame. Out of the darkness, the eel girl steps forth, completely naked. We see small fins on her forearms and gills in her cheeks. She slowly walks to the tub, and the scientist watches as she seductively slides into the thick, black liquid. As she lies in the tub, alarms begin to go off in the observation room, telling the scientist that her hormone levels are fluctuating.
Distracted by the computer, the scientist does not see the eel girl get out of the tub and approach the glass window. . .

What happens next, you just have to see to believe!

All I know is that if this is what Paul Campion can accomplish in 5 minutes, I cannot wait to see what he will be able to do with a full feature!

For more information, you can visit http://www.eelgirl.net/

To my knowledge, Eel Girl is still going around the festival circuit and is not yet available to purchase, so a special thank you to Paul for sending me this one, as well as Night of the Hell Hamsters! Thank you!
[and to all of you reading this, keep an eye on this guy!]

Jason