Short Film Review: Gitchy

He'll make you laugh... till you DIE!! Now, how can you go wrong with a tag line like that? As writer/director Thomas Norman show us, you can't! Gitchy is a short horror/comedy that introduces us to a new independent horror icon, Gitchy the Clown. To be honest, I don't know what's more disturbing, Gitchy's look or the way he talks. When combined, this clown can be downright disturbing.

The plot goes like this: Since the untimely death of their parents, David and Kimberly have had a rough time of it. David has been experiencing mental breakdowns and visions of a 400-pound killer clown. In fact, he believes that his parents were tickled to death by the clown. Kimberly does her best to help David and even gets him professional help, but nothing stops his disturbing dreams. Eventually, everyone connected to David finds out that Gitchy the Clown is all too real.



Gitchy is a very well-made short film. The cinematography is excellent, the sound design is impressive and the pacing is spot on, especially for such a low-budget film and one that clocks in at 32 minutes to boot. The actors do their best, but it's ultimately Gitchy, played by Greg Gale, who steals the show. I think what was most impressive was that Norman took a bare-bones approach to his film, keeping blood and guts to a minimum while upping the ew-factor in more creative ways, like Gitchy's use of whipped cream and the ensuing toe lick. That scene still makes me shudder when I think about it.

All in all, I really liked this short film. It made me laugh, it made me shutter and perhaps most surprisingly, it made me feel like I watched a full length movie. It will be interesting to see what Thomas Norman and his crew do once they expand to long-form film. Gitchy tickles **** out of *****.

Check out the Gitchy trailer: