The 2025 short film Call me After Dark features a homicide cop with a case of the blues for his last victim. Writer/Director Kris Salvi gives us a brief sojourn down memory lane via St James Infirmary with a finale of Minnie the Moocher. This is short cinema at its finest. Esoteric with a touch of the late David Lynch mixed in, Salvi goes for nostalgia with tinges of ghostly images.
The Story
Detective Chuck Klein arrives too late so save Laurie in a bullet spattered diner. He is also too late for the waitress with a hole in her head as collateral damage. Laurie’s last words are touching and heart breaking.
Klein is doomed to an eternal attachment with the dying/dead girl.
The Cast
Justin Thibault is Chuck Klein.
Kayla Garabedian is Laurie.
Deborah Del Negro is the waitress.
What works
Salvi uses music in Call me After Dark as a mood enhancer. It can almost be seen as a fourth wall that guides the viewer in the direction Salvi wishes them to go. St James Infirmary (The splendid Cab Calloway version.) tells us in lieu of dialogue that the girl with Chuck is dead.
The Johnnie Ray & the Four Lads with their “The Little White Cloud That Cried” leads us to believe that Chuck is that cloud. Grief filled at the loss of Laurie.
Lastly: Smiley Burnette with Minnie The Moocher At The Morgue hints that all the participants in this little vignette are in fact dead. Klein included.
Dialogue not Required
Salvi quite wisely leaves dialogue to an absolute minimum here. He lets Christopher Di Nunzio, as cinematographer/editor use the film’s Lynch-ian appearance flow over the audience. Call me After Dark ain’t (sic) Fire Walk With Me, but it has that feel.
The Verdict
Call me After Dark is a full 4.5 stars. This whimsical, blues impregnated murder story in miniature is a bit of brilliant work. Mixing music and a noirish tint of atmosphere, this is a very satisfying short tale of regret and woe.
At a run-time of just over 9 minutes, this is one nail hit firmly on its head. The film should be entering its festival run any time now.
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