As per the requirements of this project, I need to make two research posts in which I watch to two existing short films to prepare and get ideas for my own. These two are both superhero shorts, which fits with the film that I'll be making.
Film 1: The Spider Within: A Spider-Verse Story
The Spider Within is an animated Spider-Man short released by Sony Pictures in 2024. What's really cool about it is that it was made in partnership with a nonprofit called the Kevin Love Fund to promote mental health awareness. The film itself is about Miles Morales returning home with a lot on his mind, not just his life as Spider-Man, but also his struggles at school. His dad invites him to watch a movie, but Miles goes to his room. While in his room, he encounters a shadowy copy of himself, which morphs into a massive spider. This creature isn't literally there, it just represents his anxiety, and the film does a great job portraying that with the visuals and sound. I love the use of comic panels in this film, showing either flashbacks or a different perspective on a shot, such as the view of the spider that Miles sees alongside Miles himself. I will definitely consider using a similar technique for my film. It's also really cool how this short is largely a horror film that just features a superhero character. I love genre bending like that, and I may attempt to include techniques associated with other genres in my film too.
Now originally, I was going to find a different superhero short to watch, until I discovered that this isn't the only Spider-Man horror movie...
Film 2: The Spider
A month after The Spider Within came out, filmmaker Andy Chen released The Spider, an unofficial fan-film that reimagines the origin of Spider-Man as body horror. What I love about this film is how it plays with what the viewer expects from the character its based on. The first few minutes seem pretty similar to the classic origin story (radioactive spider bite, shooting webs, sticking to walls) if noticeably more gross. The thing is, you can tell something is off. The color palate is dark and intense, the music is ominous, and every shot of Peter's face shows how he's getting more sick. Even still, it just kind of feels like a darker version of Spider-Man's origin. That is until Peter vomits up blood and one of his teeth and wakes up covered in webs. That's when this thing shifts gears fully into horror. Before you know it, Peter has spider limbs growing out of him and eats Uncle Ben. When Aunt May discovers the grisly scene, we get a look at what Peter has become. And my god, is it glorious. Scraggly hair, multiple eyes placed in irregular locations on the face, a pair of fangs, and a coating of slime. My only complaint with this film is that at the very end, he turns into a more conventional giant spider that is far less scary that than the literal spider/man hybrid, but that doesn't stop the practical effects from being insanely impressive and scary and the whole movie oozing with atmosphere (and other fluids!).
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