Guy Trevellyan’s Plastic Surgery is an urgent and phenomenal short that highlights an issue that most people push to the side. He marks himself as a filmmaker we have to keep an eye on with this debut.

Dr. Terra (Anna Popplewell), a trauma surgeon, is on her last shift before she excitedly goes off on maternity leave. Sadly for her, this last shift throws her into a world of chaos as patients are rushed in with ever-increasing bizarre foreign object removal procedures required.

By allowing Plastic Surgery to start slowly with a typical surgery scene (even if that object is on the peculiar side), Trevellyan enable the audience to settle in and see if anything is a slightly more graphic hospital drama type short. But oh my does he have other plans for his audience that will have you squirming far more than you anticipated.

There is some great use of blocking by Trevellyan in the surgery scenes as he keeps the camera on the team but has it move around them, showing the chaotic nature of the job, but the immense confidence in their own ability. Everyone at the table has to ensure the job is done as safely as possible.

Little technical moments like this allow Plastic Surgery to stand out as a shining example of what happens when a touch of creativity is brought to scenes that could very well be played with a simple mid-shot of the action, cutting to close-ups of specific characters. It makes what is happening feel all the more real, and this increases as we get a trauma-filled, rapid cut sequence as everything around Dr. Terra takes over her mentally and emotionally. It’s the subtle things that help punctuate the moments expertly.

Anna Popplewell is the heart of Plastic Surgery, as her ever-increasing panic at her situation takes its toll on you. It’s a performance that pulls at you, not just because the character is pregnant, but for how much she loses the steady control she had at the start of the film. You feel for this doctor who is only trying to do her job and is facing an insurmountable task, as with each moment she becomes ever more powerless to stop it. When that panic does set in, though, you are terrified for her, and that is all down to how tremendous Popplewell is in the role.

There is a killer message that Trevellyan is going for in this body horror. A major theme present within Plastic Surgery is quite the spoiler to that message, so I have purposely stayed clear of it here. If you can, watch this one as spoiler-free as you can, as his message does make a significant impact on you.

Plastic Surgery is currently showing at the HollyShorts Film Festival 2025.

★★★★ 1/2

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