SYNONYMOUS WITH (2021)
Horror hosts are having a moment these past few years. The campy on-camera personas that offer up trivia, puns, style, knowledge, and bad jokes are in a resurgence with Joe Bob Briggs, Elvira, Ghoulardi, Mr. Lobo, Big Bad B Movie Show, and more have been popping up on Shudder, Twitch, Discord, and other Internet locales as of late. Why now? If I had to guess it’s a combination of nostalgia and isolation. These hosts were staples of the ‘80s and ‘90s but faded away in the intervening years, so people are fondly recalling those days when they would watch THE DEADLY SPAWN or PIRANHA with breaks in between for the latest catty comment or bit of insightful trivia from the MC of the evening. It’s also looking back at a time when regional TV was more of a thing—with conglomerates and massive corporations, there isn’t as much local flavor in certain markets; at least not with much of a budget (even something as inexpensive as most of these shows).
But there’s also isolation. This trend was making a comeback even before the pandemic shut down socializing because most people watch movies on streaming services, often alone. But horror hosts talk directly to the audience, staring into the camera at the viewers that await on the other side. The good ones also create a sort of rapport with their fans, a rhythm of dialogue and presentation where it feels like this person in the bad make-up and worse costume is in the living room with you, making jokes or a quick aside about the film that’s playing.
Plus the films these hosts show were always an acquired taste—not only because they were horror, but often they were obscure or gross or cheesy or inept.
Suddenly, people that love those times of titles who usually don’t have a large group with which to participate in watching them (especially in the time of COVID-19) now have a sense of a community and at least one person that also gets it and, therefore theoretically, gets them.
Which brings us to the 2021 fantastic short film SYNONYMOUS WITH from writer/director Thom Hilton. It concerns a local horror host personality, Syn (Remy Germinario), whose channel in the Hudson Valley was shut down and thus lost his special corner of the world where he was able to adopt a persona that felt more real than real life.
It’s a wonderful mix of “found footage” and documentary styles with an additional twist that it’s a student film with the young documentarian (Hilton) interviewing Syn and slowly coming to a realization that extends beyond horror or fandom and into the realm of true identity.
SYNONYMOUS WITH is an excellently made short that played at many of this year’s film festivals including Hollywood Horrorfest, KC Film Fest International, West Sound Film Festival, Full Bloom Film Festival, Sleepy Hollow International Film Festival, Soho Horror Film Festival, and FOTA Film Festival: Festival of The Arts Of Starved Rock Country, and more. Enjoy!