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Decapoda Shock

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Decapoda Shock
Film poster
Directed byJavier Chillon
Written by
  • Javier Chillon
  • Luis Fuentes
Story byJavier Chillon
Produced by
  • Javier Chillon
  • Luis Fuentes
Starring
CinematographyLuis Fuentes
Edited by
  • Javier Chillon
  • Luis Fuentes
Music byCirilo Fernández
Animation byJavier Chillon
Production
company
Misterio
Release dates
Running time
9 minutes[3]
CountrySpain
LanguageSpanish
Budget€1500

Decapoda Shock is a 2011 Spanish short science fiction action parody film written, directed, co-produced, and with brief animated sequences by Javier Chillon.[1] The film depicts an astronaut infected by an alien crab-like creature, transforming him into a decapod crustacean/human hybrid. Meanwhile, the astronaut's family has disappeared. Both events are the result of a sinister conspiracy, for which he seeks vengeance. As of 2019, Chillon's second film has been selected for more than 300 international film festivals, and received over thirty awards and honours within the first two years of its release,[2] including a Méliès d'Argent.[4]

Synopsis

An astronaut explores the red dirt surface of an alien planet, where a crab-like creature reaches out of the soil and snips through his space suit. The infection that results transforms him into a cosmic decapod crustacean/human hybrid, with the head and claws of a crayfish or lobster. When he returns to Earth and tries to reconnect with his family, he discovers that he's been the victim of a sinister conspiracy, and takes revenge on those responsible for his family's disappearance.

Cast

Actors
  • Federico Martín • Hombre-Cangrejo Man ("Crab Man" or "Crayfish Man")
  • Benito Sagredo [es] • Astronaut
  • José Antonio Fuentes • Eric Gibraltar
  • Alexey Chillon • Son
  • Pilar García • Mother
Voice

Themes

Decapoda Shock shares a number of themes with Javier Chillon's first film, Die Schneider Krankheit: monstrous creatures resulting from "spatial" mutations or genetic manipulation, primarily derived from the science fiction B movies of the 1950s, the "atomic age".[5]

Production

Background and financing

Less than a year after the release of Javier Chillon's very successful first short film, Die Schneider Krankheit (2008), a film that includes the "Hollywood look of the 50s" among its influences,[6] Chillon was in Paris pitching a project called Outfinite, which would "pay tribute to sci-fi B movies and blaxploitation pics."[7][8] The film that became Decapoda Shock was ultimately self-produced by Chillon and his friend Luis Fuentes, who was also the cinematographer on Die Schneider Krankheit; as before, they relied on themselves and on their "very talented friends" for support: "we didn't have much money to spend (the final budget was around 1500€) so we made everything ourselves or called our friends for help."[9] The film was made for far less money than Die Schneider Krankheit, and was also less time-consuming; the director's love of the American B movie genre he imitates in these films happens also to be a way to get a film made on a limited budget.[5]

Development and writing

Chillon wanted to "make something very different" from his previous film: "There were very different things that I wanted to try and, in a way, I wrote the script to accommodate all of them in a wacky story. I spent two years in the making of the film."[9] The director allowed himself more spontaneity and improvisation this time around, shooting without a fleshed out script: there was a "concise idea" but the story elements were added gradually over time, "on the fly".[5]

Filming

Decapoda Shock was filmed between July 2009 and March 2011 in Guadalajara, Spain and Madrid,[5] using an HDV camera, the Canon XL-H1, "because a friend owned it and we could borrow it any time we needed it during these two years."[9] Unlike the previous film, it was shot in colour, with orange the "main dominant" and also the main colour "for clothes, props, and so on", with a view to achieving "a kind of a comic book feeling."[9] The reason the film took so long to shoot was the range of "locations and different actors and the tight budget"; as an example, the first scene with the astronaut was shot in the course of one year using three different locations and three different actors (two of them for the hands).[9]

Release

Decapoda Shock had its premiere at L'Étrange Festival [fr] in Paris[1] on 9 September 2011.[10] Its Spanish premiere was at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in October.[2] In October 2013, it was selected by Peter Kuplowsky at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival as a standout for the internet premiere of Fangoria Magazine's Screamers short film series.[11] As of 2019, the film had been selected for more than 330 international film festivals.[2]

Home media

Decapoda Shock and the director's first film, Die Schneider Krankheit, appear as bonus material on a Spanish-subtitled DVD of Daniel Cockburn's 2010 feature film, You Are Here.[12]

Online platform

The film is available in its entirety on Vimeo.

Reception

Critical response

Robert Barry reviewed Decapoda Shock after seeing it at its premiere, saying it "mixed an inventive and articulate use of 'real' cinematography with the freedom of expression afforded by occasional intrusions of animation"; he voted for it in the audience prize in the festival's short film competition.[13] A statement by the Fanonmenon jury awarding the Silver Méliès to the film at the Leeds International Film Festival, gives the reasons why it was chosen: "Decapoda Shock was very creative and achieved a lot in a short space of time – hilarious storytelling, strong pastiche techniques, multi-media visualisation and displayed a passion for the genre."[4] Adrienne Fox remarks that Chillón taps into revenge films, spaghetti westerns, and exploitation films "with some screaming guitar to make a very memorable short."[14] Describing the film as coming "from way the heck out in left field", Paul Bowers suggests despite the plot making "only halfway" sense, it's "fine", and: "You'll be too enraptured by the horror-schlocky camera cuts, animated depictions of evil government cabals, and close-up shots of gored anonymous henchmen to put all the pieces together anyway."[15] Kate Williamson and Gem Carmella say the film does what it deliberately sets out to do: "confuse, shock, surprise, and most importantly, to make fun of itself"; initially, it passes itself off as "a badly made but serious film", but "its cheap feel is actually the result of a precise and perfectly executed set of technical considerations. Quite simply, you’ve got to be pretty good at what you do to make something look this bad"; the film is a "master class in parody".[16] Similarly, Samantha Hautea calls the film "a celebration of the absurd", "tying in various film clichés".[17] Andrew Robertson said "once you have seen it you cannot help but measure every film you have ever seen against it ... The colour-palette is washed and perfect, and the high-drama and STAGGERING ACTION are such that one cannot help but reach for the hyphen and CAPS LOCK keys."[18]

Accolades

Decapoda Shock received over thirty awards and honours within the first two years of its release.[2]

2011
Awards
Special mention
  • Festival de Cortos del Barbú (Madrid)[25]
2012
Awards
  • Muestra de Cine de Terror, Fantástico y Gore (Alcantarilla) • Jury Prize • 2nd Audience Award[26]
  • Mostra de Cinema Jove d'Elx (Elche) • Best Original Screenplay[27]
  • Festerror (Cine de Terror y Fantástico Lloret de Mar) • 3rd Prize (Audience Award)[28]
  • Caostica (Bilbao) • Best Short Film (Bizarro section)[29]
  • Festival de Cine Propio (Madrid) • Best Short Film • Best Director • Best Screenplay[1]
  • Festival of Nations (Lenzing) • Diploma
  • Open Cinema International Short and Animation (Saint Petersburg) • SKIF Special Award
  • Picknic Festival (Santander, Spain) • Best Digital Short Film[30][31]
  • Offanengo (Offanengo) • Best International Short Film[32]
  • Cortonogara (Nogara) • Best Short Film[33]
  • Abycine Cortos (Albacete) • Second Best Short Film[34][35]
  • Post Mortem (Aguascalientes) • Best International Short Film[36]
  • Buried Alive (Atlanta) • Mind Fuck Award[37]
Special mentions
2013
Awards
  • Winter Shorts (Somerset, Kentucky) Foreign Special merit awards • Editing • Special Effects[41]
  • U.S. Super 8 Film and Digital Video (Rutgers University) • Best Experimental Short Film[42]
  • Peculiar (Peculiar, Missouri) • Most Peculiar Film Award
  • RATMA (River Aire Ten Minute Amateur) (Keighley) Sci-Fi Short Film Runner Up[43]
  • Vagrant (Belarus) • Audience Award
  • British Horror (London) • Best Music[44]
  • Suspiria (Alicante) • Best Fantastic Short Film
  • Certamen de Documental e Vídeo Secuencia Cero (Vigo) • Best Short Film[45]
Special mention

References

  1. ^ a b c d "DECAPODA SHOCK" (PDF). www.mcu.es. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Decapoda Shock". www.javierchillon.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  3. ^ "Decapoda Shock". Vimeo. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "The 25th Leeds International Film Festival Summary". itpworld.wordpress.com. 21 December 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d "Javier Chillon, el futuro de la ciencia ficción". Sin Final en el Guion (in Spanish). 5 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Die Schneider Krankheit press kit" (PDF). www.javierchillon.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  7. ^ Hopewell, John (15 June 2009). "Spanish genre talent on show in Paris". Variety. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Différent 2 !: Professional Meeting in Paris around the Spanish fantasy film". Cine & Tele. 30 November 2001. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  9. ^ a b c d e ""Decapoda Shock" Javier Chillon". Pulp Sci-Fi: Latin and Spanish Science Fiction. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Regarder un film pour adulte Decapoda Shock by Javier Chillon". nugutsu.ml (in French). Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  11. ^ Janisse, Kier-La (1 July 2013). "FANGORIA SCREAMERS: Toronto After Dark selects Javier Chillon's "DECAPODA SHOCK"". Fangoria. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Usted Está Aquí - Sci-Fi Cults 4 (V.O.S.)". Detodo Expres (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  13. ^ Barry, Robert (20 October 2011). "L'Etrange Festival 2011". Electric Sheep Magazine. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  14. ^ Fox, Adrienne. "FANTASTIC Exhibit Hall Finds". Geek Girl Con. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  15. ^ Bowers, Paul (25 September 2013). "Strong offerings from Spain in this year's Lowcountry Shorts Festival". Charleston City Paper. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  16. ^ Williamson, Kate, and Gem Carmella. "Leamington Underground Cinema Festival 2013 – Part Four Decapoda Shock // Dir. Javier Chillion, Spain, 2011, 10 mins". Short Sighted Cinema. Retrieved 16 March 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ Hautea, Samantha. "Dreams, Fears, Obsessions: 10 Years of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Short Films". Flip the Media. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  18. ^ Robertson, Andrew. "Decapoda Shock". Eye For Film. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  19. ^ Whittaker, Richard (27 September 2011). "FF2011: Fantastic Fest Awards". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  20. ^ Lussier, Germain. "Fantastic Fest 2011 Award Winners Include Horror Hit 'You're Next' And Charming 'A Boy And His Samurai'". /Film. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  21. ^ "Knoxville Horror Fest 2011 Award Winners". /www.scruffycityfilmfest.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  22. ^ "6th Cinefantasy winners list". cinefantasy.wordpress.com. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2019. The Spanish Decapoda Shock won the Best Sci-fi Short Film award.
  23. ^ Rodriguez, Jose Miguel. "Palmarés Horrorvisión 2011". Dioses y Monstruos (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  24. ^ "CASPA NEWS!: LLEGA EL IV FESTIVAL HORRORVISION". Blog Caspa (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  25. ^ ""ENTREVISTA", SE LLEVA EL PREMIO AL MEJOR CORTOMETRAJE EN EL IV FESTIVAL BARBÚ DE MADRID". El Blog de Cine Español (in Spanish). 4 December 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2019. Por su dirección artística, puesta en escena y atrevimiento y originalidad en el planteamiento a "Decapoda Shock", de Javier Chillón.
  26. ^ "8 By Raúl Cerezo, Third Award At Alcantarilla". The House of Films. Retrieved 15 March 2019. Decapoda Shock by Javier Chillón won the Second Audience Award. Additionally, the film festival organizers unveiled a Jury's Award for the short film Decapoda Shock, so this film won two awards.
  27. ^ "Lola Baldrich, Awarded At Elche For Abracadabra". The House of Films. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  28. ^ "Premios Festerror 2012". Fiebre de Cabina (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  29. ^ "Caostica film laburren jaialdiko irabazleak". Nontzeberri (in Basque). 13 June 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  30. ^ "Picknic Festival 2012: palmarés completo". www.cinenterate.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  31. ^ "The Jury Award". Picknic Film Festival (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 March 2019. El jurado ha otorgado el galardón a mejor cortometraje de ficción en vídeo a Decapoda Shock (2011), de Javier Chillón
  32. ^ "OFFANENGO: i vincitori del Film Festival". Il Nuovo Torrazzo (in Italian): 16. 13 October 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  33. ^ Sassano, Marianna (25 October 2012). "CORTONOGARA 2012: TUTTI I VINCITORI". Non Solo Cinema (in Italian). Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  34. ^ "El diputado Fermín Gómez destaca el esfuerzo colectivo de las Administraciones Públicas para mantener el nivel del XIV Festival de Cine de Albacete". Noticias de la Diputación de Albacete (in Spanish). Diputación de Albacete. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  35. ^ "Anacos, de Xacio Baño, Primer Premio de Abycine 2012". Cortosfera (in Spanish). 9 April 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  36. ^ "El evento mexicano Post Mortem 2012 anuncio ganadores". Terrorifilo (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  37. ^ "Past Winners". Buried Alive Film Fest. Archived from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  38. ^ ""Villanova in corto 2012", i vincitori della sesta edizione". Ravenna 24 Ore (in Spanish). 9 October 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  39. ^ "Se consolida el Riviera Maya Underground Film Festival". Revista Puntual Regional (in Spanish). 116: 30. 4 November 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  40. ^ "'Sunset Day', de J.A. Duran, millor curt de l'Acocollona't". El PUnt Avui+ (in Catalan). 1 November 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  41. ^ "2013 Winter Shorts Film Festival Awards". Facebook. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  42. ^ "Grand Prize Winners". www.njfilmfest.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2002. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  43. ^ "Results 2013 - RATMA Film Festival". ratmaff.weebly.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  44. ^ "The British Horror Film Festival 2013". FILM FESTIVAL GUILD. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  45. ^ "SECUENCIA CERO: VIGO, 24 – 26 outubro de 2013" (PDF). Papeis da Academia Galegado Audiovisual (in Galician). Academia Galegado Audiovisual: 466. 2014. ISSN 2340-8693. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
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