I’m not going to pretend that The Nails (aka Les Ongles) is anything other than silly. The subject matter (which I won’t spoil, because you should just watch) disallows any chance of seriousness, flat out. That said, I think this is pretty wonderful. It’s unique and the non-CG effects look painful. So while the last minute or so devolves into total nonsense, I at least appreciate the originality up to that point.
Director Clement Deneux only has one other short film credited to him and that’s Zombinladen: The Axis of the Evil Dead. That sounds less promising (I hate word salad titles like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter or Ben Franklin: Frankenstein Executioner), but I’m still interested to see this guy do more. This short is from 2009, but maybe his long hiatus has been put to good use on a new project.
Thanks to my buddy DZ from Cinema Diabolica for turning me on to this.