Joel (Jon Lee Richardson) has what many would consider to be a difficult job. In the new short Stomach It, we watch him go through the motions as a crime scene cleaner. The bodies are long gone, but the blood, vomit, or whatever needs addressing are there to be cleaned. Yet that isn’t the worst part. Joel is having a tough time remaining detached in his line of work and it’s taking a nasty toll on him both physically and mentally. Peter Klausner writes and directs an effective, stomach-churning short that is a fun watch despite losing its way toward the end in favor of ambiguity.
At one point in the film, Joel sits in his van overwhelmed with stress. Our well-meaning cleaner has broken the cardinal rule of crime scene cleaning and has grown a curiosity about the lives of those he is cleaning up after. The lives lost that is. Pictures, teddy bears, clothing, they all paint a picture that Joel can’t resist connecting to. His stomach has long since ignored any suggestion of relief that the empty bottles of Pepto Bismol have tried to offer. Nests of cigarette butts are clustered here and there. That’s when the hallucinations begin. Sent for one final job Joel reaches his breaking point and things go off the rails.
Richardson is exceptional in the lead as Joel. His sweaty, bedraggled performance of a tortured, no-name worker struggling to resist the basics of human compassion is some great work. Klausner really turns up the ick factor by focusing, perhaps a little heavily, on sound design. Mind you we see nothing actually happen, just the grisly outcomes of several moments of demise. Sloppy sounds of saturated fabric sloshing around recall Cardi B’s timeless lyric, “Macaroni in a pot.” It’s supremely effective.
Stomach It is an effective piece that needs more. What is it that drives Joel’s irresistible curiosity with those he cleans up after? Is it just compassion or is there something more? Regardless of the vague turn of events, filmmaker Peter Klausner delivers an atmospheric and provocative squirm piece that entertains and disturbs.
Score 7 0f 10
Rating: NR
Runtime: 13
Directed By: Peter Klausner
Written By: Peter Klausner
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