Along came a spider ...
June 8, 2007 3:44 PM   Subscribe

"... straight out of Down-Under, explosive stuntman-editor-producer-writer-actor-director Nash Edgerton delivers his latest effort, "Spider", a 9-minute action-thriller that gives an all-new meaning to old Peugeots, stunning blondes and love-jokes."
posted by bwg (35 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Ouch...
That had to hurt.
posted by daq at 3:59 PM on June 8, 2007


Nothing says quality like a Camry.
posted by phaedon at 4:04 PM on June 8, 2007


Man that was some dark shit. Special effects/stunts/editing was top-notch.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:15 PM on June 8, 2007


KA-POW!

that was GREAT! Give that guy a budget, pronto, he's got the touch.
posted by djrock3k at 4:20 PM on June 8, 2007


buffering...buffering...is this available somewhere else in a format that doesn't suck dead dingo's balls?
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:22 PM on June 8, 2007


Ubu, the format is absolutely fantastic, it has, GASP, quality! Just pause and let it download the whole thing, then play it.

God. People get a free short movie in better-than-youtube quality and they start talking about dingo testicles. Unreal.

Anyway! Good lord. I totally gasped and covered my face at both of those. I think I might have gone "omigod!" at the second, too. :p
posted by kavasa at 4:25 PM on June 8, 2007


ah, it didn't seem to be downloading on pause.

i've got wombat out back that needs fellating. i'll do that & come back later to see if this thing's downloaded by the time we've finished.
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:32 PM on June 8, 2007


>i've got wombat out back that needs fellating.
Why is this such a good metaphor for the internet?
posted by metaculpa at 4:33 PM on June 8, 2007


BUFFERING...

(the wombat's going to work on the dingo now)
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:29 PM on June 8, 2007


He has a thing or two to learn about pacing if he wants to be a director.

And what the hell are "love jokes" how can something give a whole new meaning to a nonsense phrase?
posted by Megafly at 5:41 PM on June 8, 2007


oww
posted by empath at 5:51 PM on June 8, 2007


I suspect that of the 122,322 views, around 90% must be people refreshing their browsers again & again becoz the damn thing simply refuses to go beyond 2:29.

Seriously, gimme YouTube anyday. Regardless of the quality, at least it *works*.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:57 PM on June 8, 2007


for Megafly
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:28 PM on June 8, 2007


Ubu: just turn the volume down and let it play all the way through in another window. Come back 10 minutes later and voila.
posted by papakwanz at 6:40 PM on June 8, 2007


I didn't have any problems with it loading. The direct link to the FLV file is http://en.qoob.tv/content/video/289.flv if you prefer.

I did feel that it was a bit of an elaborate setup just to do a couple of effects gags. Don't get me wrong, the effects were very professional and well done, it just felt like aside from the fx there wasn't much else.
posted by Rhomboid at 7:04 PM on June 8, 2007


Great ending, really tickled my dad and I. He really did do a lot with very little.
posted by buriednexttoyou at 7:05 PM on June 8, 2007


SPOILER ALERT.

I let it load.
I called my wife.
We saw it together.
We waited.
We waited.
We laughed.
We rewinded (old media, I know) the last few minutes to be sure.
We laughed again.
It's definitely not an action-thriller.
It doesn't need this kind of misleading-mad-max-tongue-in-cheek promo to be amusing, but thanks for the laugh, bwg, we had a nice moment. :-)

posted by bru at 7:21 PM on June 8, 2007


papakwanz: the problem here is that if the video plays through to the end, the player is just dying to pop up this fucking frustrating "other videos" screen: it's like "ok, show's over, whaddya wanna watch now?", with no option to "play again", or drag the slidebar back to the beginning.

either i have the stupid today, or else it's shite interface design, or maybe poorly tested (Firefox, Flash 9), but it shouldn't take a fucking IT professional two hours to (not) view 9 minutes of video over ADSL.

admittedly, i haven't done a whole lot of tinkering with browser settings, but nor should i have to, if the medium is set up intelligently. that's what i mean about YouTube at least working. no nonsense, no bullshit, no unexplained unsurmountable obstacles to viewing.

maybe i'll give IE a crack at it. perhaps switch off the firewall. enable popups. disable cookies...? ah, fuck it. it'll be on at the sydney film festival. i'll boycott it there.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:25 PM on June 8, 2007


(Rhomboid: how did you find the direct link to the file?)
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:32 PM on June 8, 2007


Action-thriller? It's an exceptionally well-done dark comedy.
posted by disgruntled at 7:40 PM on June 8, 2007


I don't know if Rhomboid used FireBug, but that's what I used. Load the page, pause the video, open firebug, hit the Net tab, and find the one big FLV file at the end of the list. Et Voila.
posted by Skorgu at 7:54 PM on June 8, 2007


awesome! thanks, Skorgu!
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:05 PM on June 8, 2007


Ubu..

okay we all got the fucking point the first time, did you have to shit all over the thread?
posted by empath at 9:04 PM on June 8, 2007


(can't you show any empathy for a frustrated little ubu?)
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:17 PM on June 8, 2007


now that's not being very empathetic.
posted by andywolf at 9:20 PM on June 8, 2007


The man certainly likes his car accidents - see 'Lucky' from a couple of years ago.

I'm sure Australian film and writing schools supply their lecturers with a single big red stamp that says "not enough exposition!", which gets used too liberally during marking. Dragging things out for too long before the punch is a common failing of Australian shorts, although this one has some nice stuff going on with setting up the argument and the fill-in characters at the servo. And I love that long moving pan at ~ the 6 minute mark.

"I quite enjoyed it; I'm giving it a four. Margaret, what did you think?"
posted by Pinback at 9:24 PM on June 8, 2007


(anyway, sorry. there's just nothing in the world that shits me more than online media that simply won't play, with no help or troubleshooting files, and no settings that you have any control over to rectify the problem. oh, hang on. mosquitoes shit me more. but nothing else)

on preview: "Well, I don't know, David..."
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:27 PM on June 8, 2007


"Action-thriller? It's an exceptionally well-done dark comedy."

it may in fact beat out the..

DARKEST SKETCH!
DARKEST SKETCH!
DARKEST SKETCH!

posted by ZachsMind at 9:28 PM on June 8, 2007


(God, how I love Robot Chicken. I suspect that despite being 40 my brain ceased becoming any more spohisticated beyond age 13.)
posted by maxwelton at 9:50 PM on June 8, 2007


Well, you just knew it had to end badly with her dramatically-ironic warning, "You always take it one step too far." The major surprise was the denouement and come-uppance (is Edgerton working under the Hays Code?).

The spider thing might seem over-the-top, but then, spiders are serious business in Australia, especially around Sydney, even if they're no longer as deadly.

Anyway, Edgerton has talent, but I suspect it lies closer to editing or producing than directing. The production on this was excellent. As noted, pacing is his weakest point, and it's easy to direct people when one of them is yourself, and mostly they have little to say.
posted by dhartung at 11:54 PM on June 8, 2007


(having seen it now, can i redeem myself with the tidbit that the indian guys in the petrol station are talking about english cricketer monty panesar, and calling him a sisterfucker?)
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:04 AM on June 9, 2007


It will probably be available in quicktime soon at the blue tongue films website. Not that that is a better format.
posted by BrotherCaine at 1:29 AM on June 9, 2007


I was annoyed, then I snickered, then I laughed. Thanks for the vid!
posted by spacelux at 1:57 AM on June 9, 2007


Enh. I've seen really gripping shorts; this was a couple of schlocky shock stunts wrapped in really nice production values.
posted by ikkyu2 at 3:01 PM on June 9, 2007


Anyone else notice the theme song was performed by Ione Skye? That's weird.

Furthermore, Enh? I'm looking at you, ikkyu2. Does the internet really need another three letter expression of apathetic discontent?
posted by nanojath at 10:38 PM on June 9, 2007


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