Embroiled in a legal battle with his well to do elderly neighbors, a man finds himself left to die in a tipped-over port-o-potty.

Noted as being “An adaptation of Stephen King’s 2008 short story of the same name”, Stephen Tramontana’s short film A Very Tight Place is a brief tour through revenge. Beautifully gross along the way, A Very Tight Place has great characters, narrative, musical score, and aesthetic for your viewing pleasure.

Thinking he has gotten a hold of an old Chicago housing project, Durkin Village, at the low price of $1.5 million — Curtis Johnson (Danny Houk) signs a deal with the property’s owner, Ricky Vinton (Joe DeBartolo), to take over ownership of the lot. However, unbeknownst to Curtis, Mr. Vinton also makes a deal with Tim Grunwald (Ron Beecher), who happens to be Curtis’ neighbor, to buy that property as well. When Mr. Vinton dies suddenly after collecting the money from both men, Curtis and Mr. Grunwald are left to battle it out in court over who owns the property, escalating into a back and forth that pits neighbor against neighbor in a battle of wills and pettiness. When Curtis’ beloved dog Betsy winds up dead due to their battles and Mr. Grunwald eventually has a heart attack and passes on, Curtis is left heartbroken over his pet and Mrs. Ginny Grunwald (Joette Waters) is left widowed. Maintaining that she does not want to keep this battle going, Mrs. Grunwald invites Curtis out to the housing project under the guise of being apologetic, but Curtis soon realizes that she has other, more sinister intentions for their meeting, and Curtis finds himself racking his brain for a way out of the very tight place that she has put him in.

I really dug the music on this film, which oscillated between western-movie scores somehow tinged with 80’s synth or heavy pop rock interludes. The score was a perfect accompaniment to the unexpected twists in the film as well as the humorous lines. Can I just say that the dialogue in this short was hilarious! There are many sinister elderly ladies throughout cinema history, but the lady in this film was unexpected I never read the novella that this film is apparently based upon, but it seems that Stephen Tramontana took creative license in changing the killer from the husband to his wife, the elderly neighbor. Played by Joette Water, her character, Ginny Grunwald, was a treat with her potty mouth and evil smirk. A gun in her hand looking like a sweet old lady created great juxtaposition and made her character the most interesting. The film mainly follows the character of Curtis Johnson though, played by Danny Houk who also gave a great performance with perfect comedic timing and wry voice-overs. However, the elderly widow in the film is one for the books!

Regarding the film, Stephen Tramontana is quoted as having said ‘I’ve never directed an adaptation before. As a screenwriter I’ve adapted Shirley Jackson, but I’ve never made a made a movie based on other material, and this is the only King short I ever wanted to do. So, it was like this bucket list moment where I realized, wow, we really did it. We made A Very Tight Place, and it works. I’m really proud of how this came out.‘ And he should be – at just about a 20-minute run-time, A Very Tight Place is short but fun, intense and suspenseful at times, and is full of dark humor entertaining for all of those that like a little morbidity mixed in with their comedy. Though again, I’m not too sure how the Stephen King  novella plays out, you should be forewarned that if you do not like when movies break the cardinal rule of not killing off the dog, A Very Tight Place should be avoided, but you might just get over that quickly as A Very Tight Place does it in a funny way and it at least mourns the loss of Curtis’ beloved pet Betsy throughout the film (and her death even saves the day, in a way). The moral of the story in this film is this: if you’re going to kill someone, keep it simple.

This short movie from Stephen Tramontana and Angry Mule Productions is a sure winner, having made its big screen debut at this year’s Windy City Horrorama Pat II, and next will be heading to The Netherlands in September for The Stephen King Dollar Baby Festival. It offers thrills, comedy, and best of all, some very good ideas on how to kill someone without being suspected. I’m sure you have a spare 20 minutes to check out this adaptation if you are a fan of dark comedies and/or Stephen King you will like A Very Tight Place. Watch the trailer HERE and follow Angry Mule Production’s Facebook page to check for opportunities to view this short dark comedic thriller.