People usually dislike student shorts because... well, 99% of 'em REALLY are complete and utter pieces of helpless, inept, self-indulgent, stinky crapola. But there's also great little gems to be found among the rubble, with brand-new ideas and styles today's Hollywood is too lazy (or too stupid) to use. If you're not a FilmFest goer, the chances of seeing this stuff are close to nil. But thanks to the guys (and girl!) from Indie DVD (www.indiedvd.com), nine student flicks are now available for home viewing. Let's talk aboot 'em.

The first short is not exactly a short, but a music video for Tilt's "Animated Corpse" directed by Rusty Nail (yeah, THE Rusty Nail from "Terror Firmer"). It's about a girl who reanimates and dates a corpse. It's fast and funny, but not particulary daring style-wise (there's nothing wrong with that, of course).

"Dinner", directed by David Tarleton, is far more interesting. It's basically a Sandman comic book brought to life: a goth guy does his best to be accepted by his girlfriend's family. Problem is, said g/f is a fairie (as in faerie, the mythical beings!), her mother is Baba Yaga and her cousins and brothers are flesh-eating goblins, orcs and pixies! The story mixes humor and fantasy in a modern setting, with results that would make Neil Gaiman proud.

Glenn Kiser and James Michael Hughes' "Every Night and Twice on Sundays" is an E!-style mockumentary about the life and times of the late Dorothy McHugh (played here by the wonderful actress Danna Hansen), the "I've fallen and I can't get up" lady from those infamous Lifeline Systems ads. Dorothy really was a Ziegfield Girl and appeared on 1937's "Artists and Models" (in an uncredited role), but everything else is made up. Using archival footage, fake pics and clever editing, Hughes and Kiser created an amusing tale - and one that DOESN'T make fun of elders, and that's a great thing per se.

"Flying With the Angels", by Richard Newton and Nancye Ferguson (with music by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh) is a b&w feminist tale about the subconscious universe of a woman. The visuals are gorgeous (reminiscent of Maya Deren's work and the TV ad Homer Simpson made in that classic snowplower episode), but the short itself is pretty much yawn. Next!

Kate Judge's "Iceman" comes next, a very short tale about a woman trying to remember the mother she never knew (her only clue is that she was... a whore!). It's beautifully shot and extras include an unused song by Chris Cunningham. Pity that the menu clips spoil the ending!

"Hidden Child", by Brian Whitley, is one of the best of the bunch; a fantasy tale about a boy with some skeletons in his mind-closet and a ghost sister that keeps following him around. The ending is pretty gory, but this beautiful black and white film has more to that than meets the eye. Some critics made too much fuss about the homoerotic angle, but it didn't bother me. In fact, it would be cool to see Whitley adapting Clive Barker's short story "In the Hills, The Cities".

Christian Schaefer's "The Passage" is, according to the release, "a dark fantasy that explores the breakdown of an estranged writer who can no longer escape from his troubling inner world, where dreams and nightmares blend with reality". Well, it may be. What I saw was a b&w quasi-noir trying too hard to look and sound like something David Lynch farted under red linen sheets. The back cover proudly announces a "hilarious cast and crew comedy track mocking their film", and I have to disagree. The commentary track is EXTREMELY unfunny and annoying.

Noah Kadner's "Today's Life" is a pleasant surprise for any sci-fi lover. It tells the story of a deep space probe that awakens its only crew member (played by the late Will Plunkett) to witness a "relevant event": the birth of a star. It has nice computer FX shots donated by Foundation Imaging (same company that does Star Trek: Voyager), but the heart of the story, like any really good science fiction tale, lies on the human drama. This film is so good it made my nipples hard, and that's quite a feat!

And then there's Cyrus Helf's "Zitlover", the controversial one - and you can't expect less from the guy who made "It Came From the Devil's Dick" and "Festering Shmegma". In fact, the movie is nothing more than a foul display of skid-marked, bad taste, lowbrow humour based on bodily functions and made for shock purposes only (think "Pink Flamingos" animated by John Kricfalusi and you'll start to get the idea). But you wanna know something? Meesa liked it! It's the story of an hygiene-challenged guy who, after a glue-induced hallucination with a stop-motion demon, robs a convenience store for... cheese! But the clerk, not too happy about being mugged, gets all Rambo-ed and goes after the criminal. "Zitlover" Is not a film for the weak-stomached because of the disgusting zit effects (they're not single zits, but giant, pus-filled pimples the size of grapes and golf balls!), but people with high tolerance will be highly amused. What's NOT amusing at all is the commentary track. Director Cyrus tries to talk about his film, but an unknown participant just speaks endlessly (and loudly) about senseless shit, trying to cram the f-word in every phrase. Some critics said they were unable to watch more than 2 minutes of the movie; well, I was unable to hear more than 2 minutes of the commentary track!

Extras-wise, all shorts have very informative commentary tracks (except "The Passage" and "Zitlover", that have stupid commentary tracks), and "Today's Life" comes with a behind-the-scenes docu. Image is crisp, with 2.0 surround sound (only a couple of shorts use 5.1), and a trailer for "After Dusk" is added for...well, I don't know why, but what the heck?