Filmmaker Spotlight: “HAMMY” by Logan Metcalf
My filmmaker spotlight for June 2020 is a short that was made by some friends that I met when we were all members of my university’s film club.
HAMMY is a 30-minute, black comedy and psychological thriller short film about a pizza delivery man who is swept into a strange and dangerous circumstance after being kidnapped by one of his customers. The short was written and directed by Logan Metcalf (who was the president of the film club), and was produced by Metcalf, Anthony Crislip, and Ben Coy. It stars James Turk as the pizza delivery man with Crislip, Nicholas Shows, and Mikyla Wilfred in supporting roles.
To me, the most outstanding thing about this was its tone. In a manner not unlike Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, HAMMY effortlessly transitions between comedy and thriller without the jarring, hard left turn that one might expect from a film that combines these two genres. The comedic aspects seem to play up the absurdity of the short’s plot in an almost self-aware fashion.
But at any time and without warning, HAMMY immediately transports us into a twisted and suspenseful scene or sequence which occasionally ends in violence and reminds us that while the overall premise of the short is quite silly, the situation the characters find themselves in is actually pretty terrifying.
This juxtaposition works so well because it relentlessly toys with your emotions and is sure to leave you guessing what will happen next. From beginning to end, HAMMY is an ingeniously-crafted piece of art by my old film club friends. Anyway, feel free to show Logan’s YouTube channel some love if you like this short. I’ll be back next month with another spotlight. But for now…
