By Geno McGahee
I am a really big fan of Andreas Marfori. In 1988, he made horror history with his demon-filled “EVIL CLUTCH”, and is in the process of completing his highly anticipated sequel. Marfori recently put out a short film “THE UNFORTUNATE LIFE OF GEORGINA SPELVIN CHAINED TO A RADIATOR,” and the title gives you a window into what this is about. If you are familiar with the work of Marfori, you know that his work sits with you and the visuals he presents are not something that you will forget. This is true with this short that could easily be mistaken for a snuff film.
Georgina (Erika Kamese) is a stranger in town, lost and scared. She rides the subway nervously as the narrator discusses her life, who she is, and her troubles with immigration. She stumbles upon a man and asks for help and he attacks her. She becomes his prisoner. Marfori, not only wrote and directed this, he was behind the camera and some of the shots that we got here were very impactful. There is a certain elegance to this shoot despite the uneasy situation. I think the beautiful look makes this short film that much more bothersome.
The narration continues and the hostage continues to plead for her life and for her release. She remains handcuffed and topless as she attempts to understand why this is happening and how she can get out of it. As time passes, things get worse and we begin to travel into depravity. It is fair to say that Marfori is not pulling punches here, but if you have seen EVIL CLUTCH, you will understand that this is his style.
THE UNFORTUNATE LIFE OF GEORGINA SPELVIN CHAINED TO A RADIATOR is terrifying. When the monsters are men that kidnap and abuse naïve women without remorse, it hits harder because this sort of thing really does happen. Anyone with a daughter, sister or wife and any woman will watch this with discomfort. These sorts of people exist and there is always the threat to any woman at any time.
I was very impressed with Erika Kamese in the lead. She was convincing and easy to like and feel for. I kept hoping that she would get away and the further we traveled into madness, the more you start to think that if she did get away, she wouldn’t be able to cope with reality much longer anyway.
Marfori’s short film gives me great optimism about his sequel to EVIL CLUTCH. He still has it and this film proves it.
