No doubt that the best outlet for an up and coming indie filmmaker is the short film. Too many low budget filmmakers get caught up in cranking out feature after indescribable feature, waiting for their turn to get noticed. Part of the problem lies in the fact that it's much harder to forgive a 90-minute indie epic that doesn't work, than it is a 15-minute short. Spotlighting technical know how, artistic merit and the ability to convey a message are really the three things an indie filmmaker should concern his/herself with. And a short film is really the best way to do this. Concentrating their efforts, even when they're not great, the shorts that exhibit even a smidgen of talent quite often wind up as 'good.'

Such is the case with Biff Juggernaut's 2000 short, The Voice Inside. I'm often contacted and am asked if we'd like to review an indie film, I rarely have any idea what I'm getting myself (or other staff writers) into. We've just about seen it all around here, as I always say, from the good, to the bad and the ugly. Never a dull moment, as we never turn down an indie filmmaker, we'll help support 'em all with a review, good or bad.

The Voice Inside is a gritty B&W, 15-minute film, offering style with very little substance. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing mind you, it peaks my curiosity to the point that I'm very much interested in seeing what Biff has in store for us next. The story, in it's simplicity, follows a young man who is tormented and driven crazy by.... yup, you guessed it, a voice inside his head.

Starting out on the subway, he eventually winds up home where he vomits, smacks himself in the face repeatedly (with just about anything he can get his hands on), nearly destroying his face. For the grand finale, he tears of his clothes and repeatedly crams the handle of a hammer up is ass. Now THAT'S cinema!

Purposely shocking and unapologetic at the same time, The Voice Inside is both meaningless exploitation and talented filmmaking all at the same time. The trick is in getting Biff to take his talents further (in the near future) and tell us a story, really worth telling. The B&W photography is reminiscent of Darren Aronofsky's Pi, which predates The Voice Inside by just a few years and it's very effective.

Biff Juggernaut's talents are obvious, definitely worth keeping an eye on. The Voice Inside has won such film festival accolades as 'Most Offensive" and "Most Perverted" - which are easy to hand out to a film that features a young man cramming a hammer up his ass and vomiting in excessively close detail. The trick is to win awards that are not so obvious...awards that weren't specifically created for your film. In any event, check it out, there's something here.

You can check out The Voice Inside online and judge for yourself. Definitely worth a look, show your support.