The Shortcuts to Hell 666 competition took place recently, all entries are now in whilst the winner is yet to be announced. For those of you that don’t know, this a short film competition organised by Frightfest, Horror Channel and Movie Mogul. The challenge is to make a 3 minute horror short following a set of 6 themed guide lines (ya know, “666” – the devil and all that). In fact, there were actually 6 ‘guidelines’ in total so, first up, the title:
A short had to use one of the following 6 (of course) titles: Sweet 6Teen, 6 Shooter, 6th Sense, 6 Seconds to Die, 6 Degrees of (LIMB) Separation or 6 Feet Under.
Other rules include a maximum run time of 6x 30 seconds (3 minutes – I’ve kinda already covered that), maximum of 6 lines of dialogue, maximum of 6 hours of shooting time, budget must not exceed £666 and no more than 6 cast members and 6 crew (including post).
There we are! The challenge was open to anyone in the UK over the age of 6, I jest, 18. The selected best 6 films will be broadcast on The Horror Channel in the run up to Frightfest and they’ll also be screened at Leicester Square. The overall winner will receive £6,666 (no surprise there).
If you’s like to take a look at some of the entries I recommend heading over to YouTube and searching for either one of the previously mentioned 6 titles or looking at the most recent videos under the term “Shortcuts to Hell 666”.
Some interesting shortsinclude:
6 Sense: Remember that big ass long Stella Artois advert with the ice skating priests? Yeah, well, cross that with the feel of Shaun of Dead – I like!
Six Degrees of Limb Separation: For the very interesting and lush visuals and, unnerving atmosphere. Also, have a go at decoding the ending.
Sweet 6 Teen: Ok, I really appreciate the effort and production value on this, but, can’t but feel they’ve bent the 6 cast members limitation rule some what.
6 Shooter: This is a little bit crazy but some of the effects in places a very cool and, you’d half expect a title like 6 shooter to employ the use of a revolver but – not so.
