The Blood Of The Dinosaurs Synopsis
The Blood of the Dinosaurs opens with a very simple and reasonable question… “What the hell is your movie about?”. It’s admittedly quite a strong opening for an 18-minute short that tries to do a lot in the little time it has but it’s a very fair question to open with because, even after watching, you might find yourself asking what The Blood of the Dinosaurs was all about because what is presented is just so goddamn strange. The bare-bones explanation is that the short itself embraces a classic trope of internet sketch video, the demented version of childhood nostalgia, and oh boy is this shit demented in the most fascinating way.
A slightly more detailed explanation is that this short presents itself as an episode of a beloved children’s show in the style of Mr Rogers Neighbourhood, the show in question being titled “Uncle Bobbo’s Christmas Kwanzaa Happy Hanukah Winter Solstice Annual Sacrifice Holiday Special”.
In this episode of Uncle Bobbo’s show, the titular host decides to teach the children watching where oil comes from, what it’s used to make and how the rich and powerful have plundered the earth in order to make more money than they’ll ever need for the rest of time itself. Along the way, Uncle Bobbo will introduce us to such charming people as Purity or Uncle Universe and you will learn so much you didn’t want to know about… well, whatever The Blood Of The Dinosaurs decides to teach you.
The Blood Of The Dinosaurs Review
Saying that Uncle Bobbo is a demented version of Mr Rogers would be underselling it quite a bit, Uncle Bobbo is what would happen if Mr Rogers had 72 children’s bodies hidden in the walls of his home and underneath the floorboards. There’s a feeling that at any second this kids’ show is going to turn into a true crime novel, the strangeness of everything going on just reveals so many hints of darkness that you can feel are just barely hiding right behind the cold dead eyes of the disturbing host we spend most of the runtime with. It makes for a wildly fascinating experience, just waiting for the moment when Uncle Bobbo will finally snap.
The Blood of the Dinosaurs isn’t just using the weirdness for no reason either, it draws you in so it can have a bit of fun pointing out where one of our most treasured resources comes from. Our dependence on the bubbling crude that comes up from the ground is called out and mocked by a guy in an ugly mustard-coloured sweater, which is truly the only way such things should be called out at all.
It’s strangeness with a purpose, though you can just ignore that purpose and enjoy the strangeness of it all. You can see why this short was recently awarded the WTF Award at the 2022 Buried Alive Film Festival… because watching The Blood Of The Dinosaurs does lead you to inevitably say “WTF?” over and over again.
Towards the end of The Blood of the Dinosaurs things do stop being quite as effective as they could be, which also seems to be where they hint at a bigger story that’ll be told in future short films by director Joe Badon. It just kind of leaves the confines of Uncle Bobbo’s show and never returns, which is a shame because Uncle Bobbo is fascinating as hell. Seriously, Vincent Stalba’s performance as Uncle Bobbo is controlled insanity that’s impossible to look away from and to just kind of lose him before the ending felt upsetting.
Don’t get me wrong, whatever’s being set up for future Joe Badon projects seems fascinating and the final birthing sequence will have you muttering “The fuck?” over and over again but god it’s hard not to want to return to the weirdness of the special that I’m just now realising had nothing to do with holidays (jury is still out on if the special involved a sacrifice though, I’m sure there’s a corpse somewhere on that set).
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The Blood Of The Dinosaurs Overall
If you want something that’s going to make you feel uncomfortable in the same way that those weird late-night shorts on Adult Swim always make you feel like your brain has been violated, The Blood Of The Dinosaurs undeniably does some high-quality brain violating with its wall to wall weirdness and occasional destruction of the barrier between audience and creator. You might not quite understand what’s being shown, but it’s certainly unique enough that it’s hard to look away from this bundle of batshit weirdness.
Hey Lee! This is Daniel; I was the cinematographer on this short. Thank you for the spot on review. And yes, you’re absolutely right in that there is more to come. This is the first in a four part series. Part 2 is 95% complete and 3 and 4 are already shot and waiting to be edited, so if you enjoyed this…it gets weirder. I look forward to your thoughts on the rest!