When Space Hears You Scream

I can’t at all remember what the first half was even about but the second half is some of the hardest I’ve laughed in 48Hours. Well done.

Ai, ai, aiiii! OK, dammit I'll review (sort of) this film. From the team that has brought you everything completely bonkers in CHCH over the last few years, really the undisputed kings of fuckery in this city we of course have...much, more of the same. And why not? There's no point explaining this film - just watch it when it's available.

A Spanish dub, missing VFX effects, colourful penis spaceships, the return of a fan fav from 2021 and the real highlight - the multiple credit sequences with lyrics that are some of the funniest you'll hear. And the dancing is very hypnotic. That dude is obviously a pro.

You never know with AAP how much is actually planned and how much is just spontaneous but surely a great deal of craft goes into your songs because they are damn catchy. The great thing is that they are a team who have made a mark in the CHCH 48HR scene by doing it their way. Certainly not to everyone's taste and it's unlikely to make finals but I doubt that's the ambition of this team heading into the weekend.

Don’t be fooled by the reviews above. This film eclipsed all others shown in heat 3 and deserved to win audience favourite. Unfortunately, the audience watching online were programmable (and rampantly racist) bots hard coded to not accept foreign language films.

On the technical side, many of the shots were tighter than the conditions of my poverty-stricken childhood. The film opened with what is unmistakably and the most single handily, in this competition’s esteemed 20 years of existence, emotionally stirring dialog that continued to resonate with me days after viewing.
Take it from me, the man who watched this short in the live audience. There was not a single dry eye or booger-free tissue in the theatre after this film played.

It made them laugh, it made them cry, and nevertheless, there is a conspiracy at foot. Why did this film not win the audience favourite? The film had tension so tight and stakes so high, yet it also had heart and remembered to slow down so we could appreciate the small moments and rich character development between the captain and his crew.
The gender diversity was much appreciated, with the casting of the role of the killer doll to a female doll and although the shape of the spaceship was risk-ay to say the least, they handled it with great taste and respect.

Now let’s break down the required elements:

The whisper. My gosh! Very deserving of a 5/5 the tension it created and that it came completely out of nowhere.

The gatekeeper. 5/5 I’ve never seen such smooth and convincing rotoscoping in my life and to see you pull it off with such ease and without the use of the refine brush tool. Simply fantastic!

The sign. You really had to look for it and I’m so glad that they didn’t spell it out for the audience. The genius of it is frankly frightening 5/5.

Let’s talk about the credits… F**K me dead, your musical talents can’t be topped. If you’re not nominated for best use of song, it’s probably because of the rampantly racist bots.

Story: 5/5
Technical: 5/5
Elements: 5/5
Overall: 11/5

Well well well, ya got me. Sometimes guilty pleasure, sometime thorn in my side, Aaron's Anal Whatever are back under a covert name which shocked and, for some, appalled the audiences I've watched this film with, some of whom familiar with Clandestino's antics, some baptised by fire as that silver guy showed up and the credits went on and on for what felt like HAD to be more than 5 minutes.

Still, in a way that almost feels stupid to bring up, I don't think this is your best work gang. The last couple of years we just as rough around the edges, but I felt like there was an incentive to tell some kind of story - WHEN SPACE HEARS YOU SCREAM (which is an excellent title btw) is rather aimless, even for you guys, and to be honest I'm not exactly comfortable with the Spanish director persona that's been adopted for your press tour across the facebook groups this year. Coupled with the overused "ay ay ayyy" in your film, I dunno, it felt kinda racist and I'm not sure a bunch of white guys from Christchurch should be deploying these jokes in their grotesque orgy of unfinished CGI and playdough moulded penises.

Previous entries from you guys would be a shoe-in for the recently revived INCREDIBLY STRANGE award, and while I was tempted to nominate you, and this team is indeed incredibly strange, I didn't feel like I was seeing anything new or inventive from you. It's not enough to show me bare naked ass for an eternity-long 30 seconds anymore. I want more from you. I wanna see you weave your weirdness and crassness into something more cohesive, because I'd love to have to be forced to announce one day that Aaron's Anal Annihilation has made it into the city finals.

Challenge for next year: You completely ignored my challenge from last year! Give me a female protagonist - one that is not the butt of the joke or belittled in anyway. A doll does not count. Come on guys, you must know some REAL women??? ;)

We had a number of Chch veterans say they would be absent from this years comp which made me sad, but none of them made me sadder than not seeing Aaron's Anal on the lineup, I was devastated.

And then, it happened, from the beginning of the film I thought to myself 'hmm, this feels familiar' and my suspicions were confirmed when we got a split second of silver robot guy! And I tell you what, I could've cried.

Thank you for the lovely surprise, come on back next year and continue to surprise us