Cereal Man (2023) - Short Horror Film Review

Cereal Man is a short horror film that comes from Deformed Lunchbox, who their press release states is the fastest growing horror channel in Canada. The short appears to be a proof of concept as it directly ties into their marketing for a feature length movie of the same name, even having the last third of the short be marketing for that campaign. As such, this post shall be part news story and part review.

The short itself is two minutes of the three and a half minute run time. This follows a cereal obsessed killer, who along with kind of enjoying the breakfast food, is also insistent that his kidnapped victim also eats the stuff. The footage is low quality and grainy, with the impression of old VHS tape footage. Rather than a handheld found footage style method, the shots used are static from random angles, which brought to mind Skinamarink more than anything. The way this is framed, it looked authentic, even if there isn't too much of a story able to be given in the short run time.

On the news side of things, there is currently a Kickstarter running to raise funds to make a feature length version of this concept. Denman Hatch, the writer/director of Cereal Man states "I feel positively disturbed by the tragic story of Cereal Man...After creating 50 short horror films since 2016, we are excited to launch our Kickstarter and give longtime fans a chance to support what they have been asking from us for years - a full feature-length film in our colourful Deformed Lunchbox style". For more information on the Kickstarter head here.

While this didn't feel like a movie that would appeal to me, from the concept it seemed interesting to see how this style of film would fit into a feature length offering. If they can keep the sense of realism that permeates this short then it could be something special. As for the short itself, it didn't outstay its welcome, and made for a decent little slice of nightmare life.

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