kyle rankin Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Though most probably know him as "that guy in the background who always looks familiar," Christopher Marquette is finally getting top billing; the Hollywood Reporter tells us that he's just signed on to star in a new horror-comedy from writer-director Kyle Rankin called Infestation. For those who obsessed over the HBO show Project Greenlight before it moved over to Bravo (why is everyone looking at me?), you might remember Rankin as one-half of the directing team that took on The Battle of Shaker Heights. However, what you might not know about Rankin (and his disappearing partner-in-crime Efram Potelle) is that prior to Shaker Heights (and after), the two wrote and directed a couple of very cool shorts -- one of which is eerily similar to this new flick announced today.

They're calling this one 28 Days Later meets Shaun of the Dead, as it centers on some office schlub (Marquette) who wakes up to find himself wrapped in webbing and cocooned to the wall of his office. After realizing that giant insects have begun to take over the world, our hero must band together with a "ragtag group of strangers" to fight for their survival. Back in 2003, Rankin and Potelle directed a very awesome short called They Came to Attack Us; in that pic, some stoner dude is told that he must keep a valuable orb and protect it from the aliens that are invading. Since Cinematical is all about giving you more bang for your buck, you can check out that short here. Heavy Duty Entertainment is producing Infestation along with Icon Prods., who are also handling worldwide distribution. Personally, I think the idea sounds pretty fun, and Marquette proved he can pull off comedy fairly well when he played Ryan Reynolds' perverted little brother in Just Friends. Sure, the bar is set pretty high when you compare a project to Shaun of the Dead, but the comparison alone has me extremely interested. How about you?

Seeing as you'll be reading my review of Evil Aliens later this week, I figured why not stretch out the intergalactic theme and include it within this week's Eat My Shorts. I mean, who doesn't like to watch a film about aliens? They're weird, foreign and mysterious creatures that, depending upon who you ask, may or may not exist in real life. Personally, I am of the opinion that aliens are out there somewhere, waiting for just the right time to come down to earth and start their own professional ping-pong league. Heck, there's a lot of money to be made in ping-pong and I'm sure those little dudes are up there paying attention.

Life is more fun when you're a believer. If anything, one can use an alien's presence to explain missing homework, a clogged toilet or why next weekend will not be a good time for the in-laws to pay a visit. All kidding aside, we adore our aliens and love watching them up on the big screen accompanied by millions of dollars in special effects. However, aliens also play a big role in the world of short films as well. Be it animated or live-action, I'm consistently amazed by the quality of alien-related shorts online and available to watch right now ... for free.

This week, all of the following films have something do with aliens and were found rather quickly by typing in a few keywords and surfing the net. As always, if you'd like to see a particular short film featured on a future edition of Eat My Shorts, feel free to send all links, tips and suggestions to shorts AT cinematical DOT com. In the meantime, let's go watch some shorts ...