The Tattooist’ is renowned for his remarkably crafted tattoos. But customers are drugged and imprisoned with other unfortunate victims that bear his prized work. They must race against time to escape from The Tattooist before ending up as a victim of his morbid obsession.

Directed by advertising director turned filmmaker, Michael Wong, his independent short, The Tattooist (2018) is a concept piece begging to be made a feature film! Again, always check the Yelp reviews before going anywhere, lest you find yourself in the hands of someone like Michael Wong’s killer artiste, the Tattooist.

In the Tattooist, victims fall prey to an evil ink master (Wang Yanhu) running a graphic parlor of both the artistic and horrific persuasion. He lures customers into his parlor under the pretense of him being renowned for his beautiful and intricate tattoos, however, to their surprise and demise, his parlor is also a place of death and dismay, as those who are lucky enough to receive such tattoos are also in the unlucky position of being drugged, imprisoned, and then forced to fight their way out in order to escape the disturbing dungeons below his tattoo studio.

The short is a no holds barred, relentless barrage of gore, neon, and nihilism, wrapped in a stylish package of interesting music merged with fast-paced editing. If turned into a film, I would not be surprised if this were on par with Hostel (2005), and further still, may likely surpass it in cinematography due to the director, Michael Wong’s, graphic artist background. With the popularity of ink masters these days, a killer with this background might likely garner a cult background if the movie is done as well as this short. I do love a dancing ending, and in this horror setting it is particularly unsettling and reminiscent of Buffalo Bill’s “I’d do me” scene out of Silence of the Lambs (1991) – obviously unhinged, obsessed with beautiful things, and head deep in his killer identity that is captivating for audiences to watch.

In that tiny time span of 80 seconds, Wong successfully piques each the senses. Eyes are treated to a visual smorgasbord of blood and beauty with images of the victims screaming, but without us able to hear them; Ears are treated to a musical score by Panagiotis E. Tsafos, that oscillates between kitschy 1930’s-ish music and industrial music as our killer splices his victims and the score plays over the film’s silent dialogue; As the victims are dragged and tortured you can smell their fear and feel the blood dripping as it spurts from their bodies with each splice; And as the gleeful killer lines up the bodies, you can taste his thirst for blood, and might be surprised you are wanting for more as well.

After having only spent under 2 minutes of my life to excite me so, I am impressed. With the quick cuts we get from the fast-paced editing, I feel as if I just passed a terrifying escape room getting glimpses of each room of horror as I made my way though. My appetite is whetted to try more from this Malaysian filmmaker’s nightmarish mind. Winner of many awards since its announcement last summer — Bloody Horror International Film Festival 2018 (Best Trailer), Diabolical Horror Film Festival 2018 (Best Director), Independent Horror Movie Awards 2018 (Best Gore), to name a few — Michael Wong’s The Tattooist is worth a gander if you think you can stand her.