Color, 2006, 13m. / Directed by Joe Burke / Starring David Fink, Evan Sierminski, Janel Benisch / Elantra (US R0 NTSC) / WS (2.35:1) / DD2.0


After a mind-blitzing party, three college-aged friends deal slowly with the morning after by going their usual routines -- at least until one of them discovers the bloody corpse of a young woman in the bathtub. Unable to piece together the events of the night before, they devolve into sheer panic and try to dispose of the remains (after learning her identity thanks to a nerve-jangling cell phone call); however, their plight has one more nasty surprise left before the truth is revealed.

This stylish short film from jack-of-all-trades Joe Burke (who directed, produced, photographed, and co-edited) manages to alternate black humor and utterly grim thriller twists for a solid, fast-paced 13 minutes. Aided by a constant, rumbling music score and appropriately jittery performances from the three leads, Disturbance 2013 (the title refers to the apartment number) serves as a nifty calling card for everyone involved and shows a firm grasp of both filmic and narrative technique, with a nifty editing trick providing an effective final jolt. Check it out!

This film is available on DVD as an independent release from Elantra Films and packs in some good material around the main title's brief running time. Burke, composer/sound designer Justin McGrath, and actor David Fink chime in for a quick and enjoyable audio commentary in which they cover the basics of making the film, and their other work is represented by trailers for this film and the intriguing-looking Hunter's Fall and Coop's Night In.


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