It’s the ideal 1950s life. A nice house in the suburbs. A husband with a great job. And a compliant wife to do the work around the house.
Until the husband’s work follows him home.
Today, we’ll be talking about the body horror short, “Disfigura” by Toni Blando and Jake Bradbury. It is now streaming on Alter’s YouTube channel, and you can also watch it at the end of this article. It might inspire you to get your own script ready for the next Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition.
The Plot
George Bowens comes home from his work at a pharmaceutical company, where his wife Anya is waiting for him. After some disagreements about Anya’s place as a wife, he accidentally lets slip the idea of sending her to something called Disfigura. When asked what that is, he just excuses it as some term from work that’s not important. But that word comes up again very soon from one of his panicked workers, as he tells George that something has gone horribly wrong. Something is coming for him. And Anya is soon to find out the horrific secret of Disfigura.
Alexa Cappiello and Kevin Brooks as Anya and George Bowens in “Disfigura”
They’re Coming To Get You
This short is styled to feel like the creature features of the fifties and sixties. Everything from the black-and-white look, to the style of the opening title and credits, even to the over-the-top acting. It opens with actor Doug Jones (known for his frequent collaborations with Guillermo del Toro) giving a speech directly to the camera introducing the story, like Rod Serling before every episode of The Twilight Zone. The main differences between this and those movies are its bloody sequences, (while tame by modern horror standards, they would still be a little too violent to make it past the Hayes Code) and, most importantly, its modern themes.
At its core, it’s a movie about Anya breaking free from her husband and the conservative family dynamic of the era. George believes in a firmly traditional housewife role, and works to push beauty tablets to make women fit more into that image. Their marriage is rocky, and it turns out that it takes the consequences of his other immoral actions for Anya to break free and pursue her own path.
The Disfigura mutants are also very good villains. The way they look and act are reminiscent of zombies and the Frankenstein monster. They also have a look that’s unsettling but still fits in with the old campier style of the rest of the movie. But by the end, they are more victims than anything, and their revenge feels cathartic. They are not the real monsters here.
What Makes It Killer?
Disfigura works both as a tribute to the horror movies and shows of old, as well as a statement on the trad-wife values of that time. It is both a heartfelt tribute and a fierce criticism of that moment in American culture.
Watch it below.
Contact the Filmmakers
