TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL SCREENING – Becca (Jess Adams) and Delaney (Skylar Benton) run from a murderer, screaming for their lives in the new short GIRL’S NIGHT IN. The trick is, they can’t talk about him. Or rather, men perse. A short that is as much an experiment as it is an amusing horror-comedy, GIRL’S NIGHT IN pushes the Bechdel test to the extreme, insisting the two female victims NOT talk about a man during the run time of the short while being hunted by one. This is full-on film school humor with writer Landon LaRue setting up an almost impossible checklist for herself while director Alison Roberto distracts with glossy production and solid cinematic tropes. On the surface, this is a funny parody of slasher movies. If you are in on the joke, it is so much more.

Remember. The goal is to have two women in a film and their dialogue cannot include anything having to do with the opposite sex.  Got it? Ok. So Becca invites her friend over for pizza and wine. But wait, is there an intruder? Nevermind that. Her friend Delaney arrives and the two gab and catch up. That’s the point after all right? No talk about the man? The man that might be in the house, and may very well be skulking in the shadows, waiting to pounce?

Screenwriter LaRue paints herself into a pretty tight corner as the two female protagonists dodge their attacker without actually making him a topic of conversation There is banter about Becca’s low blood sugar, then the fact that Delaney can’t drive home on account of the wine, then even their appearances as the slasher chases them up the stairs because when running from a killer in a house you must run UP the stairs, and still no word of the man pursuing them.

Director Alison Roberto wrangled a cast and crew that efficiently shot this entire film in one night. This is a phenomenal feat considering Roberto’s penchant for glossy production, saturated color, and the wonderful cinematography by Brian Michael Henderson and Sébastien Paquet. This is a silly little slasher with a brain and I had a blast watching it.

7 Out of 10