ASPHYXIUM ZINE

Monday, March 19, 2018

Film Review: GRIND MIND: TO HAVE AND TO HOWL (Grind Mind Productions) by Dave Wolff

GRIND MIND: TO HAVE AND TO HOWL
To Have And To Howl is a film short released online by Newfoundland’s Grind Mind Productions, in time for Valentine’s Day. The indie company, comprised of horror fans, actors, producers and first time filmmakers, is relatively new and learning as they go, so they say on their Facebook community.
The five minute short is about a werewolf and a vampiress booking a session with a marriage counselor after living together hundreds of years. Now I’m sure this isn’t the first time this premise was devised by an indie director; however the humor intended here seems to be the idea of what happens when monsters from the classic era get caught up in modern mediocrity, working night shifts at a warehouse, shopping for groceries, fixing around the house and resolving issues with a professional.
I should add this is Grind Mind Productions’ entry into the Nickel 48 hour Romantic Comedy Challenge. The contest guidelines were that a five minute romantic comedy be written, shot, edited and submitted within two days.
In the time frame they were allowed, the team behind the short managed to put something together that carried well from start to finish. Some of the main characters’ one-liners were corny, others were witty and had me thinking that I hadn’t considered approaching werewolf/vampire horror in such a way.
To Have And To Howl reminded me somewhat of a film series from 2009 called Monsters Anonymous, in which classic horror icons interacted together in the modern world in much the same way as the average human.
A major difference is the subtleties presented in the short, such as the marriage counselor being named Dr. Herbert Lectar (I’ll allow you to guess the reference there). -Dave Wolff

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