-Written by Kyle Bain.
Sugar Rag is a short horror film that was presented to me with Eli Roth’s name sitting just before it. Something to the effect of: Eli Roth’s…Sugar Rag. With that, I thought one thing–this film will be twisted. Anything with Roth’s name attached to it will certainly be messed up; just think about films like Cabin Fever, The Green Inferno, and Hostel. Sugar Rag certainly isn’t the same type of twisted, but it lives up to Roth’s reputation for sure.
Writer-Director Jai Love and Co-Writer Spencer T. Heath create something eerie, something wildly uncomfortable that works so well in the horror genre. It’s wonderfully twisted, aggressive, and downright interesting every step of the way. In Love’s Sugar Rag Alfred (Carter Jude Dau) meets his newly-born brother for the first time. In typical big-brother fashion, Alfred is jealous of the attention his brother, Remus (Aaron Light), is getting. His intrusive thoughts begin to take over–and he’s on the verge of a breakdown.
So, we know that Sugar Rag is twisted–but what does it do right? What is Love able to develop in order to create a compelling film?
For one thing: the sound.
Sugar Rag is hollow sounding–which is something you might typically consider an oversight on the part of the production team. However, here, in Sugar Rag, it seems intentional. It helps to create a sense of discomfort, something almost inexplicable throughout the course of the short film. With the level of bass present in the audio, it effectively reverberates through the room and through the heads of anyone watching. It becomes something harrowing, something that helps to develop tension and force viewers to become uncomfortable. While I thoroughly enjoyed just about everything about this film, the development of sound is my favorite aspect. It works in a number of ways, and I appreciate what this team was able to accomplish in this regard.
Something else that I enjoyed very much about Sugar Rag is the portrayal of baby Remus. Light isn’t a baby, he’s a grown man–and the character wears one of those creepy crying baby masks throughout the majority of the film (with the exception of his final appearance on screen–but I won’t ruin that aspect of the film). With this portrayal of the character, it begs viewers to ask whether or not Remus is, in fact, a baby–or if this is some twisted reality or charade on the part of the parents. This adds depth to the narrative, but it develops that horror and discomfort even further. Again: is this really a baby, or has a grown man infiltrated Albert’s home? Sugar Rag is well developed here, and dimension is added as a result.
Again, I anticipated that anything with Roth’s name attached to it would be twisted. But this psychological horror is different from what I’ve seen in his previous endeavors. No, he’s not the writer, director, or even the producer of Sugar Rag–but his name looms heavily as the co-founder of CryptTV, the entertainment company in charge of releasing Sugar Rag. I appreciate this unique venture into horror, its use of sound and misdirection to create suspense, tension, and that aforementioned horror. Sugar Rag is stunning–go watch it.
Directed by Jai Love.
Written by Spencer T. Heath & Jai Love.
Starring Samantha Robinson, Adam Busch, Carter Jude Dau, Aaron Light, Shuggie Furra, & Alex Nicolaou.
8.5/10 = WORTH RENTING OR BUYING
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