Writer-director Paul Chart, of the underrated psycho-thriller classic AMERICAN PERFEKT (1997), can always be counted on for the unexpected, and unexpected is indeed the word for NASTY. A tight and ingenious 22 minute short, NASTY was completed in 2018 and (as of early ‘19) is currently making the film festivals rounds. Hopefully the film will make its way to DVD or online distribution sometime soon, as multiple viewings are required to fully sort out the twisty narrative.
As with AMERICAN PERFEKT, NASTY begins in deceptively straightforward Hollywood thriller fashion, with one Archie Glass receiving a 2 AM phone call. Archie is a self-described unemployed loser, living in a heavily fortified house with his blind grandmother. The male voice on the phone claims to be that of a hitman who’s been contracted to kill Archie, but has had a change of heart—the hitman’s partner, however, is apparently still determined to carry through with the killing, and has reached the house.
Archie calls the police, which fails to deter the caller. The latter makes sure to keep Archie informed on the doings of his cohort, who it seems has pulled a car up to the gate outside the house—and is dismantling the many security cameras installed around the property.
I’ll refrain from revealing any more of the story, as it would be a crime to spoil the twists that follow, many of them quite outrageous. As I stated above, multiple viewings are required to fully sort out the narrative convolutions, with a number of important plot points imparted in very subtle fashion (an early close-up of a computer screen, for instance) and the identities of several pivotal characters withheld until the end credits.
Yet taken purely as a suspense thriller the film works quite well, with a spare and unpretentious visual style and a driving score by the versatile Simon Boswell (of SANTA SANGRE, DUST DEVIL and quite a few other genre classics). Chart also includes a pointed sub textual critique of traditional home invasion movie tropes—as when the phone caller implores Archie to arm himself with a knife, but “not a big stupid horror movie blade, I don’t know why they do that,” and the FUNNY GAMES-like play with audience identification that occurs in the second half, in which sorting out the good guys from the bad grows increasingly difficult.
NASTY’S foremost attribute is its cast. Film buffs will recognize the voice of AMERICAN PERFEKT’S Robert Forster as the phone caller and also, perhaps, the faces of ELECTRIC DREAMS’S Lenny von Dohlen as the intruding hitman and GHOULIES’S Lisa Pelikan as the grandmother. Also featured in voice-only parts are Joe Dante regular Belinda Balaski and veteran supporting player Frank Pesce, whereas Aaron David Gleason, who essays the main role (in which he spends much of the movie topless, and in the final scenes bottomless as well), is a newcomer, yet acquits himself quite well amid all the seasoned professionals surrounding him.
Vital Statistics
NASTY
Lionhart
Director/Screenwriter/Editor: Paul Chart
Producers: Paul Chart, Daniel J. Frey, Denise Grayson
Cinematography: Gabe Mayhan
Cast: Robert Forster, Aaron David Gleason, Lisa Pelikan, Lenny von Dohlen, Cali Di Capo, Denise Grayson, Frank Pesce, Howard Ryals, Belinda Balaski, Tim Blackwell