Author's note: CLOCKWORK is one of the many short films created by the "Fake Shemps" which is unlikely to ever be released because of rights issues. The following write-up describes the film in quite a bit of detail, which might be great for those who don't expect to ever see it in person but could take all the fun out of it for those who do. Read at yer own risk!

CLOCKWORK -- It ain't "A Clockwork Orange." But it's an interesting short film, circa 1979, featuring Cheryl Guttridge and Scott Spiegel. Produced by "Rip" Tapert and directed by Sam Raimi, this 7 minute short was an impressive indication of the ability of this team of young men to create a serious horror film.

Unlike many of their previous shorts, the tension just increases moment by moment in CLOCKWORK. There's no slapstick comedy action in this one. The music sets the tone perfectly from the opening scene and keeps working at your nerves right up to the last gasp. (No comments on what film scores the music seems to have been borrowed from. Ahem.) It's haunting, like the bleak wintry setting outside, and the lonely, empty looking house where the action unfolds.

The only spot of brightness and life in this sad environment is a really lovely young woman, played by Cheryl Guttridge (she was also a Fake Shemp in The Evil Dead.) She drives up in this old car, in the dusk, returning from work or a date or whatever, and approaches the silent house with an arrangement of white and red carnations in hand. The flowers are a recurring image - the symbolism is striking, even at first glance. The young woman is so gentle, graceful and innocent... and so obviously endangered by the stalking eyes of some dark, mysterious intruder. We saw him in the house, smoking a cigar, watching through her bedroom window as she drove up. She glanced up at the window as she walked towards the house, apparently sensing something, but didn't quite see him...

She finds his cigar in the house, still smoking in an ashtray, and snuffs it out with a mixture of confusion and disgust. (Now, why she didn't leave the house right then and there continues to make me tear at my hair, but typically a horror movie would be impossible if the characters did what made SENSE.) She continues about her evening routine, goes upstairs, washes up, brushes her hair, does a nice little partial strip-tease and gets into a white nightrobe... climbs into bed... and doesn't notice the other clues of danger that are making me want to scream at the screen in torment. No one else seems to be in the house, but... Page 2