A short with all the potential in the world, Hell is a Teenage Girl has its tongue firmly in its cheek as it gives little nods to the horror cliches we love. What we have is a film that you can’t help but love, even if it feels a little rushed, there is so much to enjoy in Stephen Sawchuk’s film.
The small town of Springboro has a problem: every Halloween, its resident serial killer comes out of hiding to target sinful teenagers that break ‘The Rules of Horror’ – don’t drink, don’t do drugs and don’t have sex. Parker (Skylar Radizon), the slasher’s estranged daughter, is at the centre of it all. To clear her name and make things right with the town, she sets out to end his reign of terror once and for all.
Stephen Sawchuk knows his stuff in this love letter to horror that isn’t afraid to simultaneously switch it up to keep audiences on their toes. He lures his audience in with what looks like a slasher that will be on a smarter level before fully pulling that rug out from under us at the end. At times delightful, Hell is a Teenage Girl strikes all the right notes you would want it to in a film like this.
Skylar Radizon nails her role to perfection in Hell is a Teenage Girl. She has a strong presence about her that allows you to believe that this tormented teenager is just fed the hell up with how she has been treated. While it would have been better for her character to have a bit more of a plan when the inevitable father-daughter climax happens, she pulls off everything asked of her. She undoubtedly has a bright future, so don’t be surprised to see her in more roles soon.
There is, however, a distinct feeling that Sawchuk eyes Hell is a Teenage Girl for a feature at some point as we practically speedrun through these 15 minutes at a breakneck pace, which hurts the film a tad as we are simply not given enough time to breathe and importantly care for Parker as we could have with an extra five or so minutes. That is not to detract from what has been achieved here by Sawchuk and his team; it would have been better for the film to stretch its legs a little more.
With a bit more explanation or exploration of the world that Sawchuk wonderfully set up for us, Hell is a Teenage Girl could have struck glorious diamonds. Instead, it has to settle for gold, which isn’t really a bad thing. With so much contained that it almost feels as if it was being held back from us, there almost certainly needs to be an extended version of Sawchuk’s vision.
That is practically the only thing wrong with this short film—it was literally just too short. What we are left with, however, is a nostalgia-filled fun time, and goodness, you can’t do any worse than that. I am excited to see what comes from this.
★★★★
For more of our coverage of Fantasia Festival 2024 please check out our reviews below:
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