The quirky short film Thrift tot die dood slashes old-fashioned horror films
Be careful where you shop, what you buy, and who the seller is. Especially when you plan to jazz up the purchase. And do take heed: upcycling might not be the pleasant experience you imagined it to be.
That’s the moral of the story in the short film Thrift tot die dood, in which a self-centred hipster buys a few items from a second hand clothing store. It all goes awry when she approaches her newly acquired vintage clothes, scissors in hand. The clothing items retaliate. Not because they are savage or bloodthirsty. It’s merely self-defence.
The quirky Silwerskermfees short film Thrift tot die dood revives a familiar horror subgenre – the slasher film. Yet, it also takes a swipe at the once popular but now hackneyed 1980s horror movies, like Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and Friday the 13th.
Instead of the outdated stereotypes in classic horror films, the antagonist is female, and the rather complex motivation for her actions provide a unique stylistic quality. Think Evil Dead meets Mean Girls but with an ample dose of terror and humour.
The clothes characters are uncanny, as they seem humanlike and otherworldly at the same time. One can’t help but wonder how they worked behind the scenes to pull this off.
Director and screenwriter Arné Boshoff explains: “What you see on screen is basically one big, fancy old-time puppet show mixed with modern editing magic. Without CGI, we would puppeteer the clothes and make them come to life by digitally erasing the strings and wires used to manipulate them.”
The team was massively inspired by the velociraptors in Jurassic Park and the Pixar lamp from Disney Pixar films.
“The three manipulators looked at a piece of clothing and thought: if these jeans were found in the wild and gained sentience, how would it traverse the world? How would it move in a realistic but fun way that gave it character,” Anré says.
Another crew member who was vital in making the effects come to life was the SFX supervisor, who had to approve every single shot to ensure it was usable for the final cut.
Duan Wanty is the producer of Thrift tot die dood, and Liezel de Lock and Anré Bouguenon join the jeans and green dress in the lead roles.
Thrift tot die dood will be screened at the Silwerskerm Festival on Friday, 25 August, at 09:00 and will be on kykNET and Showmax later this year.