Chilling Reviews – Monster Dykë: Four Minutes of Pure Horror Comedy and a Love For The Genre

Over the course of my search for comedic takes of horror and proper uses of representation in the genre, I’ve never laughed this hard at a short film before until watching TrueSweetheart Film’s Monster Dykë. There is an ingenious showcase of charm with how it presents itself and the humor over the runtime. The short film was made by lesbian duo Mariel Sharp and Kaye Adelaide who previously worked on the witch-like horror comedy Don’t Text Back which had won ‘Fantasia’s Best Canadian Short’ along with many others at the time. The duo decided to return and this time hard with a hilarious horror piece called Monster Dykë which at the time of writing has yet to show at Fantasia but has a lot of potential already. 

The comedic scenario being showcased in the story shows a trans-lesbian’s sculpture coming to life only for the short to express a sense of trans-lesbian longing and romance in a genius black and white setting. MD’s main monster itself shows clear inspiration from films such as Creature from the Black Lagoon and many other 1950s horror films. With the 1950s stylization the short finds a way to subvert the typical 1950s narratives in a creative way.

Andromeda’s design in the short film feels like a homage to Gillman with complete and total love for stories like Black Lagoon and The She-Creature and with that, the sheer love for horror truly shows despite the comedic nature of the short.

The story sets up the fact that the protagonist (played by Kaye Adelaide) is visibly unhappy with her experiences with men, when she has a lesbian awakening from her sculpture ‘Andromeda’ during a session where she goes to work on her. Something unique about the short is that despite the comedic elements it is truly made by individuals who love horror. The amount of hard work put into the sculpture and the set design is truly creative and fun. 

It’s truly a fun and remarkable piece of horror comedy and I hope it truly encourages other members of the LGBT+ community to get into the genre. This amount of creativity and even thoughtful deep dives into sexuality and comedy with the horror genre is typically unseen. It’s an absurdist eye into lesbianism and identity without the need of much dialogue and that’s what truly makes it whole.

When it comes to horror, there’s a lot you can do to help amplify diverse voices in the community that hold an insane amount of talent and love for the genre and its sub genres. With that, we get creative and fun projects such as Monster Dyke to exist in the sphere. Projects like this also allow others to feel encouraged to pursue similar avenues in the genre and this allows a proper community to start appearing.

The push for identity through creativity is always welcomed and needed for storytelling. It’s always a needed avenue in these parts. With how it presents itself, you can only laugh and also enjoy the sheer passion and work the individuals behind the project put into it. From Andromeda herself, the creativity, the inspiration from 1950s horror flicks, and even the choice of slime it’s a non-stop romp of absurdism, lesbian romance, comedy, and a deep love and admiration for the horror genre.

If you liked this article, check out Piper’s other work here!