As someone with an aversion to on-screen torture, it truly means something when I say that director Sigurd Culhane’s dark comedy/thriller short Green Cobra is a hilariously uncomfortable, recommended watch. The short boasts both gut-churning and gut-busting sequences.
Green Cobra is filmed using wide lenses and a thick green filter, and kicks off with a man (Patrick Tamisiea) being hauled off to a warehouse by two Russian criminals. Tied to a chair, he is about to become the next victim of the mysterious titular hitwoman — who turns out to be a quick-witted lady (Colleen Foy) who never had a taste for violence before taking up her profession, but who now gleefully engages in all manner of torture styles and deaths.
After the initial kidnapping scene, Green Cobra reveals that the hitwoman — she prefers the term “life-ending technician” — is being filmed for a documentary about her work and life, and Foy absolutely shines, showing expert comic timing and facial expressions during the interviews and a relish for punishment in the more violent scenes. The screenplay cowritten by Chris Valdez and Tamisiea gives her plenty of amusing material with which to work, and the short doesn’t spare on shots that guarantee cringing, wincing, and instinctively protecting certain body parts.
Green Cobra screened as part of Twisted Dreams Film Festival’s virtual edition, which ran from October 1–4.
(3.5 / 5)
He is a contributing writer for the "Phantom of the Movies VideoScope" and “Drive-In Asylum” print magazines and the websites Horror Fuel, Diabolique Magazine, The Scariest Things, B&S About Movies, and When It Was Cool. He is a co-host of the "Uphill Both Ways" pop culture nostalgia podcast and also writes for its website. Joseph occasionally proudly co-writes articles with his son Cohen Perry, who is a film critic in his own right.
A former northern Californian and Oregonian, Joseph has been teaching, writing, and living in South Korea since 2008.
