TINY CINEMA Is The Twilight Zone On Ecstasy And Acid

Director: Tyler Cornack
Writers: Tyler Cornack, Ryan Koch, Bill Morean
Producers: Ryan Koch,Tyler Cornack, Bill Morean, Patrick Ewald

Cast: Tyler Rice, Philip Ursino, Sam Landers, Kristina Clifford, Shelby Dash, Austin Lewis, Olivia Herman, Matt Rubano, Kyle Lewis, Matt Rasku, Tyler Cornack, Kevin Michael Moran

Genre: Horror | Sci-fi | Comedy
Run Time: 84 minutes
Rating: Not rated
Distributor: Dread

By Chris Hammond

Like the tagline for the film says “Sit Back, relax and get uncomfortable”. This is proof in advertising, that Tiny Cinema isn’t for the faint of heart. The film is chock-full of raunchy humour, which will limit the audience for this film. This is a shame as there are some gems buried in this film full of short films.

This isn’t the first go around for Tiny Cinema. The first short film “Tiny Cinema Episode 1: Tony Two Cheeks” made its appearance on Instagram on August 29, 2016. Creators Tyler Cornack and Ryan Kock have a knack for bringing the weird and absurd. The film is larger scale, and the vignettes are longer.

The stories are introductions by wheelchair-bound “Host” (Paul Ford). Here he sets up the vignettes as nightmares and not dreams. This helps to push forward the absurdity of some of the stories within.

The first Chapter up is “Game Night”. Here, we see the Tomsons (a married couple who seems to be a level-headed couple). The night of drinking laughs and fun takes a turn when someone utters “That’s what she said”. This is a stupid little statement that has been in the ethers for at least a decade now. Mr. Tomson (Austin Lewis) who is not privy to hearing this before goes crazy. It’s a slow descent into paranoia and madness, but one that ends in very dark humour.

Chapter 2 “Edna” is an examination of society’s standards and how we try to meet them by any means necessary. Edna (Olivia Herman) can’t find a good man, which leads her to stand on a bridge ready to jump. Off in the distance, something catches her eye, this also leads her to go investigate. She finds a bodybag with a deceased occupant of the male persuasion. Taking this corpse she called “Ricky” home she builds a relationship with him. They watch what she wants to watch and even have date nights out. Her friends are quick to judge, but Edna fulfilled still longs for acceptance. Here she finds that finding the right one isn’t as easy and expectations don’t always go as planned.

Chapter 3 Bust! is odd. Without going too in-depth, two friends try to help their common friend achieve an orgasm. They do this by robbing a liquor store. There’s more to it but this segment falls pretty flat and isn’t worth going into any more detail.

Chapter 4 Deep Impact follows courier Vick Ward (Tyler Cornack) who finds a package with his name on it. This package is odd though because it’s not his address. With curiosity and a commitment to his job, he sets out to get this package to its rightful owner. Once he gets to the address things get weird and Ward’s life will be forever changed. The package is for an older version of himself from the future, or so it seems. This segment works to a degree, but it feels dirty and the humour although there is not used to its full potential. In the end, is a missed opportunity.

The last chapter I want to share is Chapter 6 Daddy’s Home. We join two people on their blind date Sam Landers and Kristina Clifford. The date is going perfect up until the point where Kristina offers Sam a “bump” of cocaine. He says “just when I thought you couldn’t get any cooler”. Things go from cool to creepy when Kristina announces that “you just snorted my dad’s ashes”. This causes Sam to end the date and try to forget about the evening.

The problem is he finds himself starting to talk and act like an old man. He even starts to transform by losing some of his hair and using horrible “dad” jokes. He’s becoming what he fears most an old man. He tracks down Kristina and finds out things are worse than he thought.

Although told from a comedic point of view this chapter deals with a few serious issues. Fear of growing old and daddy issues are very common in the world today. Sure, there’s a great deal of embellishment, but it still works on a Twilight Zone level.

Tiny Cinema works well and is pretty funny and absurd on many levels. The problem being the stories or “chapters” are uneven. The ones that work are fun, but the ones that don’t are tedious. This isn’t a film for everyone. Before deciding to invest time in it check out some of the Tiny Cinema shorts on Youtube. This will help gauge if the film is something that you will enjoy.

In Select Theaters September 2 | On Demand September 6 | Available on Blu-ray October 11