‘Crimson Ties’ (Tribeca 2022) Short Film Review – The Crush Of Red Death

The first film that I got to see at this year’s Tribeca festival is Francesca Scorsese’s Crimson Ties, written by Scorsese and Savannah Braswell. The horror-thriller short is produced by Braswell and Federica Domeneghetti.

For those who have not seen the film, read ahead at your own behest. There may be spoilers ahead.

Plot Synopsis

According to the official Tribeca film festival website, here is the synopsis for Francesca Scorsese’s horror-thriller short, Crimson Ties.

When a 10-year-old girl is forced to spend the weekend with her older sister, she becomes drawn to a pendant, and the night takes a deadly turn.

Tribeca Film

Discussion

At seven minutes (and three seconds), this Tribeca horror-thriller is poetic in its title, Crimson Ties. Suggesting a connection between the usage of substances and brutality, Scorsese directs a narrative that is far from simple. Along with Braswell, the writers bring to life a screenplay that appears a tad complex; and it has gotten to a point where I had to view the film at least a few times to take in every detail. Just the blend of minutiae — from the production design to the music team’s scoring, to the aesthetic aspect of the characters’ appearance — makes the film worthwhile.

The Tribeca short calls upon some horror tropes such as young adults indulging in drugs and alcohol in the middle of God knows where. Upon my first viewing, the way the characters decide to do this is not a “pick your poison” scenario. Yes, if you look closely, they do drink the same happy juice. However, it feels like Russian Roulette, where each shot (via shot glass) leads to certain death.

One girl (Elsa Aitchison) is bludgeoned to death by a paperweight, while another (Isan Elba) becomes the Marion Crane to Elle’s (Carleigh Johnston) “psycho”. I only wish we got to see what exactly happened with Marife Quesada’s Isabella. Although, of course, off-screen death is another trope that we may need to keep in mind.

Hazed and Confused

I also found it clever how Elle endures this sort of initiation with the older girls. When we see the alcohol being forced down her throat, that is when she starts to spiral into a hazy trance. In this sense, we can think of the word “haze” in two ways: a college-level hazing as well as the type of haze when one is inebriated.

However, seeing that the other girls in this little house party are led to their specific deaths, I had to ponder on the pendant’s own role in the film. While the girls are inside another room getting crossfaded, Elle is fighting for her life to breathe, and perhaps the following acts of murder are what keep her alive. In fact, isn’t this a rule in Final Destination 2 and 5 — a death in exchange for a life? Crimson Ties‘s ending seems left open to interpretation. Although, I can only think of it as a drunk/ crossfaded situation, not necessarily “it was all a dream” but rather something of a blackout; that is, you are not yourself when you are put into this new state.

Therefore, I wouldn’t say that the film is a full-blown slasher but instead a horror film with psychological elements. It could be that the alcohol and drugs serve as the catalysts for the girls’ downward spiral, causing them to experience a non-reality — nightmare, death, or numbness of life.

The Crew of Crimson Ties

Samuel Wright Smith serves as the director of photography, while Rafael Souza serves as the editor. Juan Dussán scores the music, while Joseph Sfregola works on the additional music.

Evie Rose serves as the 1st assistant director. Taylor Williams and Juliana Pallares are the 1st and 2nd assistants on the camera, respectively. Sebastian Duran and Eunice Chung are the sound mixers for this Tribeca film.

Mina Sundwall and Lola Verhulst serve as the production designers, while Lauren Richter Surinach is the costume designer. Christina Vida is on the key SFX makeup, with Amanda Braz as the make-up assistant; Domeneghetti as the key hairstylist.

Vern Hass is the sound designer, while Sam Schrag serves as the visual effects artist.

The Cast of Crimson Ties

Carleigh Johnston portrays the protagonist, Elle, while Petra McGregor plays the character’s older sister, Jules.

The other girls/ victims of the film include Elsa Aitchison as Summer; Naomi Nelson as Tory; Sophia Ravazzani as Maya; Marife Quesada as Isabella; and Isan Elba as Deja.

Performances

Johnston and McGregor’s dynamic as the sisters, Elle and Jules, is special. This Tribeca short depicts Elle as a naive bookworm type, a reserved kind of kid. The girls pressure her into engaging in “big girl” activities as if she must grow up in an instant. This could be where the pendant plays a role in enhancing that. Having to grow up is something that a lot of kids are forced into doing, especially in our current social climate. We have kids such as Elle still developing, but this process of having the entire world shoved into your head can be psychologically taxing.

Scorsese’s film also focuses on McGregor’s Jules, who is an interesting depiction. I could not tell if it was Braz’s make-up or Domeneghetti’s hairstyling; but once the character was introduced in the film, I felt I was watching a slasher character from the ’80s. Her interaction with Elle at the beginning of the film seemed to convince me that they could definitely be sisters, and there was something about this that stood out for me.

Likewise, the performance of Aitchison’s Summer also stands out in this Tribeca film. If Scorsese and Braswell wrote the screenplay to be poetic, then I can suggest that this character is one straight from a tragedy. I noted one brief line in her crossfaded state of mind, “I hear everything; the birds, the moon…” Out of all the girls, Summer is the character who displays herself as one with the earth.

What really stole the show for me is the way she laughs, even as she is being murdered by Elle. These laughs are utterly creepy, and I found them to be reminiscent of Fiona Dourif’s laughs as Nica Pierce at the end of Don Mancini’s 2017 supernatural slasher film, Cult of Chucky, as well as throughout his television sequel series, Chucky. If that does not spook you at least in the slightest, then I don’t know what does.

Final Thoughts on Francesca Scorsese’s Tribeca Short, Crimson Ties

Crimson Ties marks a starting point for Francesca Scorsese’s foray into filmmaking. This Tribeca short is a neat addition to the long list of projects in horror history, calling upon adult themes and graphic imagery worthy of merit as an independent film, all within a span of seven minutes. Curious enough, the writers align this runtime well with the number of characters: seven; so maybe Scorsese and Braswell did have something in mind when screenwriting the project.

I enjoyed watching the outcome of Elle’s kills, notably Summer’s head after Elle has done damage to it. I would love to know what else the writer-director has in the bag moving forward in terms of horror narratives. It isn’t that I learned anything new in particular — the abuse of controlled substance consumption is up to whether the user is mature enough — but it was just a nice experience to watch unfold in front of me. Furthermore, I do believe that this could also work out as a feature-length film if the story were to be extrapolated. For now, this is good enough as it is.

Francesca Scorsese’s Crimson Ties is now available to watch at the Tribeca film festival!

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