Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 – Dirty Bad Wrong is a character-driven, powerful 14 minutes of film that highlights the lengths a mother will go to just to make her son happy and to give him the birthday party he desperately craves. Though the film contains an unnerving bit of body horror, it’s much more concerned with character dynamics and pushing its protagonist in uncomfortable directions, especially within the last few minutes.

Written and directed by Erica Orofino, the film stars Michaela Kurimsky as Sid, a single mom and sex worker whose world revolves around her son, Jesse (Jack Greig). It’s clear within the first minute or two that Sid will do anything to make her son smile and to ensure their survival. This especially includes offering her body to a demanding client simply listed as John Doe (Cody Ray Thompson), who expects more and more from her. This film isn’t without its uncomfortable moments, including one sex scene that’s interrupted when Jesse nearly gets injured in the kitchen, feet from where his mom works. This scene is important because it illustrates Sid can’t exactly afford daycare. Her son has to come with her, at least sometimes.

Kurimsky gives quite an emotional performance. Because of this, you truly, truly feel for Sid and her plight, even if we don’t know much about her background. You end up wanting her to pull through, to the point you hope she’s able to give Jesse the superhero birthday party he badly wants. Yet, it’s clear that his request comes with a price, a big payout that involves body horror and the John Doe client. We don’t even need to see everything in the short’s last few minutes to be haunted by it. Yet, Sid’s decision to meet with this client again proves the lengths she’ll go to in order to make her kid happy and the fact she doesn’t seem to have any other alternative. The character dynamics here are handled quite well.

Orofino crafted a compelling short. Dirty Bad Wrong makes for a gripping 14 minutes. Its body horror, while unsettling, feels grounded in a mother’s struggles to provide for her son and to survive another day. I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing this mother and son duo in a feature-length film.

8 Out of 10