'The Grey Matter' is Dark, Gruesome and Brilliantly Hilarious

Dark comedies focused around the assumed banality and bureaucracy of the after-life aren't anything new (i.e. Beetlejuice and Wristcutters: A Love Story), but The Grey Matter is one of the most gruesomely brilliant twists on the trope thanks to snappy dialogue and sharp transition-editing for comedic effect. After a mysterious injury, an office "stiff" named Simon finds himself stumbling through an absurd, increasingly unorthodox, and potentially fatal series of events.

The Mccoubrey Brothers' short feels like a Twilight Zone episode by way of David Lynch. Ebon Moss-Bachrach is fantastic in his role as meek and unassuming Simon (and that stetson fedora he's rocking definitely feels like a callback to Peter Weller's role in Naked Lunch). And that ending? Forget about it. Go watch this short immediately. Right. Now.

Table Manners

Table Manners follows three creatures as they venture out into the woods and find that there's no such thing as a free lunch. Directed by Rebecca Manley, the short is an homage to the types of movies she grew up watching, ranging from The Muppets to Labyrinth. Using cardboard as her main medium for these colorful woodland puppets, the end result is strangely charming for this darkly humorous short.

Prefunerale - Celebrate Your Pre-Death

As a response to a slight tasteless, and rather strange coming of age trend that's emerged in Italy's 'Dirty south,' (I'm Italian, that's what I like to call it) director Salvo Nicolosi created a pretty hilarious jab at the 'Predicciotesimo,' a trend of making bizarre glamour reels to celebrate someone before they turn 18. Examples of this Pre-18 trend prove that it's a rather tasteless, trashy affair, so in an effort to one up this trend he decided to shoot the Prefunerale, celebrating the ultimate life event in style.

Luigi Virgillito is the proud trendsetter of this mock celebration, showing off his preparation for death in a rather dapper fashion. It's dark, hilarious and ruthless in picking apart the type of exploitative things that parents make their kids do. Kind of like Italy's equivalent of those gaudy child beauty pageants in the US.

Free Pie

Dark humor hits a really high note in writer/director Caleb Slain's short film 'Free Pie.' A man, Christopher, is visited one night by a mysterious stranger, bearing tragic news. Through a series of miscommunications, it's made apparent that while poor Christopher is still faced with a sad situation, it's not the one he thinks it is.

In an attempt to console him, the stranger has a bizarre offering: Pie. Because, hey, why not?  Free pie is free.  I absolutely loved the dark humor, and the communication style between the two main characters reminded me a lot of the dialogue and delivery of the cult classic film 'Clue.'  

Monkey and the Rabbit

Animator RodneyGK not only animated, but he wrote, scored, and sung the lyrics for his first animated short, 'Monkey and the Rabbit'.  This one-man show animation shows us a rather cheerful yet homicidal monkey do what he does best: Kill.  Even with it's several shades of brown (and no other color in sight, save for red blood), it comes across as silly and whimsical.  Well, considering the monkey's rather grotesque actions.  You know how monkeys are known to play with their poop?  Well, he takes it one step further.  NSFW-ish, depending on your job.  Enjoy!

The Saddest Boy In The World

Timothy Higgins is a little boy who just can't catch a break. From his mean sister, to the school bully, and all of the situations he finds himself in, it seems the world is out to get him.  In his quiet, almost pathetic little voice, he voices his opinion to his mother: He is the saddest boy in the world.  In a very matter-of-fact way, he decides to kill himself by hanging, on his 9th birthday.  It's a creepy, fairly disturbing short film, shot in a way that comes off as a bright, happy go-lucky-style, but is decidedly anything but.

Ringo

'Ringo', or 'The story of the couple who tried to revitalize their relationship but instead ruined a child', is an animated short that is both cute and creepy.  M.R. Horhager wrote, directed, and created the art for this tale about a couple who desperately want a child, but can't have one.  Then one day they have a son, named Ringo.  Unfortunately for Ringo, he has a condition.  A condition that threatens his relationships, and ultimately, his life.  And in a true macabre fashion, his parents find a way to remedy such a problem.