One woman we soon discover is Sister Lynn (Helene Udy) crying in a Catholic confessional. She becomes increasingly upset as she cries and laments for herself because she always wanted to have a child of her own but she couldn't, and now she has one of her own, she was stolen from a woman she killed. Then we realize that she has blood on her hands. Moments later, the priest enters the room and there is Lynn, hanging from the end of a rope. It's 1955.
Now we are in 1973. The church is no longer a church, it is a nightclub called Inferno. Mel (Bringas) and her boyfriend Brandon (Stephen Ruffin) rehearse for the club's opening dance contest. There's eyeshadow up here and lapels up there. They get along quite well together, although they are nursing some nerves. Mel suddenly runs to the bathroom to throw up, and you know what that means, because in movies, female characters don't throw up for any reason unless they're pregnant. She still isn't 100 percent sure, but she knows, like a mother knows things like this.
Director: Matthew Castellanos
Writers: Mike Ambs, Matthew Castellanos
Stars: Soni Bringas, Stephen Ruffin, Helene Udy
Mel leaves the bathroom and enters the club and then BAM. With a quick cut, the nightclub disappears and the church returns and Mel's eyes are all black. She seems overcome by something. Possessed, perhaps. She enters a hallway and there is the confessional. And Sister Lynn is there, with upside-down crosses reflecting in her eyes. Very good, yes, unless you are Mel.
Disco Inferno feels like a sizzle reel or a teaser for a full-length movie: compelling concept, characters in transition, a setting and location rich with potential. And that's precisely why this 18-minute film is frustrating: just when it establishes its central ideas and plot, and hits a rhythm, it ends. Castellanos has an eye for disturbing images (eyeballs, I love creepy eyeballs) and we want to see more.
Bringas and Ruffin show enough warm chemistry to carry these characters through 90 minutes, and we want to spend more time with them. The subtext sparks ideas about faith, sin, and maternal anxiety, but leaves us hanging; It's too thin to cause serious scares. There's a fine line between suggestive and superficial, and this film lands in the latter camp.
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