Sunday, November 11, 2012

Horror Short: Vincent (1982)

Directed by Tim Burton
Narrated by Vincent Price
Director of Photography Victor Abdalov

Vincent Malloy isn't like other kids, he stays inside, reads Edgar Alan Poe, and slips into macabre fantasies where he envisions himself as Vincent Price. The only thing stopping Vincent from getting lost in his daydream is his mother, who dislikes her son's strange behavior. Vincent is very much Dr. Seuss meets Tim Burton in a poetic and epic short film. There's so much homage to Vincent Price's career in young Vincent's play story of Price as a mad scientist who creates a demon dog, losses his wife, and slips into a bit of insanity that only Price could master in such films. And the subplot of Vincent being different than other kids is reference to Burton's childhood as he grew up reading Edgar Alan Poe and watching cartoons.

Lately Burton has been receiving the hate for his recent films, as Alice in Wonderland was awful (in my opinion) and Dark Shadows equally lacked the charm of his early works. Everything is still Burton-esque (i.e. crooked trees, weird plot) but doesn't have the black warped heart of his prominent films. Vincent has revived my faith in the director though as something this fantastic has to be hidden within him somewhere still. If I was to compose a list of my favorite Burton films The Nightmare Before Christmas would of course be first as it is his best work, but Vincent is a close second. As with Edward Scissorhands it only glimpses into the possibilities of collaboration between Price and Burton. As it is though Vincent is a marvelous, beautiful and twisted piece that is Burton's signature. A definite watch for fans of Burton's older work.

Vincent is available to watch on The Nightmare Before Christmas DVD and also in a less that decent quality upload on youtube. Again if you have a short film you'd like me to view you may contact me on Twitter or at my email bleedingdead22@yahoo.com.

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