Crazy Love
Main Cast: Tom Greaves, Gemma Atkinson
Director: Seb Billings
The 2016 Alter short, My Bloody Valentine from writer/director Seb Billings, is an old story, one we’ve seen countless times—one we may have lived a time or two—of a boy and a girl out on a date at a pizza shop. Boy goes into the bathroom and returns having torn out his heart to present to the girl. The girl freaks and runs away, then has a fling with a married man she picks up in a bar. Regretting yet another poor life choice, the girl goes to a discount surgeon to have the memory removed from her head. She then returns to the pizza shop where the man, stunned, still sits, pondering his own life choices. The two reconnect and run off together to be instantly hit with the realization that this is probably one more mistake about to happen. Been there, done that.
But that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of this 12-minute short. In fact, other than The Smiling Man, it’s probably the Alter short I’ve seen the most, having also been included in the Alter anthology film ROSES ARE DEAD Vol. 1.
My Bloody Valentine stars Tom Greaves and Gemma Atkinson as “Him” and “Her”, and while not a line of dialogue is spoken, both are super expressive and able to convey a ton of information with just a look.
I also liked that this didn’t look like a short film. Billings feels like a film director who’s been on the job for decades when, in reality, this is his only directing job to date, and only his third credit of any sort, the first two as production coordinator. So he’s definitely got an eye and I hope he directs more in the future. Then again, the story here feels so personal—and yet so universally recognizable—maybe he was just working something out for himself and using the film as therapy. Who knows? What I DO know, however, is that My Bloody Valentine is a really good short, with high production quality and excellent effects (the memory extraction scene is cringe-inducing), an excellent soundtrack, and talented actors. I wouldn’t recommend it to just ANYONE and I’m glad I didn’t watch it while the love of my life and I weren’t together, but it’s “safe” now and I quite enjoy the pang of regret it instills every time I see it; it just makes me appreciate what I have now all the more.
Not to be confused with the original My Bloody Valentine (1981) or My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009). We’ve got the trifecta now.
C. Dennis Moore is the author of over 60 published short stories and novellas in the speculative fiction genre. Most recent appearances are in the Dark Highlands 2, What Fears Become, Dead Bait 3 and Dark Highways anthologies. His novels are Revelations, and the Angel Hill stories, The Man in the Window, The Third Floor, and The Flip.
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