BFI Flipside Presents: Short Sharp Shocks Vol. 4 (18) |Home Ents Review

The British Film Institute’s exploration of the UK’s ‘supporting feature’ vaults continues. There are some really odd, eerie and disturbing finds in this set, including the single most nihilistic two minutes’ screentime I have seen for a long while. 

The supporting feature was a short film that supported a feature film in the cinema, a habit that died out in the 1980s. People who remember them, remember either feelings of distinct ‘oddness’ or eye-watering tedium. The BFI Flipside has been gathering together fine examples of the former for some time, hence Volume 4. 

The earlier films here are longer, 40 minutes or so. The two examples from 1948 – The Fatal Night and Death in the Hand – are the creepiest of the set; which goes to show what good character actors and giving time to develop an uncanny idea can achieve. 

Elsewhere in the set, the shorter the better, bringing us to the shortest, sharpest shock of them all, The Laughing Clown. This 2 minute episode of unease from a long-forgotten 1956 tv show hosted by Derick Williams manages to reference uncanny fairground attractions, harsh working lives in the 1950s, a real, fatal Devon disaster and tie them up in the sort of nihilist message that horror writer Thomas Ligotti would be proud of. 

In truth, there is lots of great stuff here, including Astrid Frank’s outrageous ‘boobs and blood’ folk horror, starring Ferdy Mayne as a travelling artist with poetry on his mind and Gabrielle Drake as an alluring travelling player dragged into the more sacrificial side of the war between the sexes. 

Another highlight is the grisly public information film about flying kites and frisbees near electricity substations and pylons. The messaging comes in two forms, one short and fatally to the point, one featuring the voice of Bernard Cribbins as a robin, who has to cover his eyes and say “on no!” a lot as scraggy 1970s kids pay no attention to the message and play like there’s no tomorrow. In some cases there isn’t.

Also great fun are (at least) two proudly amateur short horror films, Night Ride and Mirror Mirror, the latter created by members of the Eastbourne Cine Group. Fans of film form will find much to ponder there. 

A couple of moody, almost arty shorts from the early to mid 70s failed to mood me up, and 1980’s Black Angel, directed by Roger Christian, which George Lucas himself apparently chose to support The Empire Strikes Back … made me wonder if it wasn’t a wise decision to ditch the supporting feature. 

This set would make a great prezzie for Halloween, especially for someone who remembers the bewitching days of the supporting feature.

BFI Flipside Presents: Short Sharp Shocks Vol. 4 is out on BFI Blu-ray on 13 October in a 2-disc set