Stomach It--Horror Short Review with Ending Explained
Ever wondered what happens right after the forensics team and detectives exit a crime scene? That’s when the crime-scene cleaners step in to dispose of the biohazards and decontaminate the premises.
Peter Klausner’s STOMACH IT shows how cleaners can also be emotionally and psychologically affected by crime scenes. Sometimes, it isn’t just another job for them. It is another trauma that they must suppress.
STOMACH IT Plot
Joel is a crime scene cleaner, working through difficult jobs. When the movie opens, he’s working on job #180. Then it’s #196 and #205.
We don’t know the details of the crime, but Joel’s expressions reveal a lot. He turns photo frames towards the walls so that he doesn’t empathize with the family. As his partner sprays disinfectants and powders over the biohazard waste, Joel is picking up wooden horses and toys, trying to piece together what happened and what the family has lost.
We can see him getting affected by the childish drawings and toys at the crime scenes, indicating that the crimes may have been committed against children. Joel is sensitive to all of this, and his partner tries to discourage him from getting too attached to the family’s belongings.
There is hardly any dialogue in this movie, but each scene seamlessly moves the story ahead. While the story is taut and captivating, the actor, Jon Lee Richardson, gets to do the hardest bit of all: emote and carry the story forward despite being masked through most of the movie.
His body language displays stress and trauma. At the end of the job, he’s seated in his van, watching black and white movies, pulling out skin from his fingers. But all he can see are images from the crime scene. His diet consists mostly of cigarettes and antacids.
When he receives another job, he reluctantly takes it, but only after he takes an effervescent tablet for his stomach, which is strangely pulsating.
Clearly, Joel doesn’t have the stomach for this kind of job anymore. But he pushes forward anyway.
Unfortunately, he is on his own at his next job, the apartment of a couple.
His stomach pulsates again, but he ignores it and begins to put away photo frames and half-eaten meals, a knife lying on the side of the plate.
Then he moves onto the bedroom, where he notices a large bloodstain on the bedsheets.
Joel begins the cleanup with his usual ritual, turning the photo frames around. He intends to detach himself from the crime scenes and victims, but his pulsating abdomen indicates he is far from apathy.
He covers up the frames and mirrors and begins work on the bedsheet, but notices the bed breathing. He begins spraying frantically and notices footprints leading out of the room. The lights go off, and Joel removes his mask as he follows the footprints back into the living room.
He gasps for air, either panicking or being affected by the chemicals in the air.
The photo frame of the couple he had taken down is still hanging in the living room. The light still shines on the frame despite the rest of the house being plunged into shadows.
Joel then sees that the meal is back on the table. Someone has taken a sip from the wine glass, and the knife is now standing upright on the meat.
Joel frantically sprays everything again and takes the knife, convinced something is in the house with him. He goes back into the bedroom where someone has torn down the coverings on the mirror and pile of toys.
Consumed by panic and fear, he begins tearing into the bed with the knife, as if trying to remove the source of his anguish.
He stops only when he finds something that looks like a stomach.
When we step away from Joel, we see the lights are on in the room. Nothing in the room has been destroyed. There is, however, blood on Joel’s abdomen.
Unfortunately, the trauma of yet another crime has driven Joel to the edge, leading him to slash his own abdomen and remove his stomach.
Joel collapses, and the movie ends.
Final Thoughts About STOMACH IT
Considering the subject of the movie, the focus is less on gore and more on the visceral aspects that invoke a sense of sympathy for the protagonist. The small details add to the story, telling us more than the actual dialogue.
STOMACH IT is a well-crafted movie that delivers more than a macabre story. It plunges into the psyche of a deeply sensitive person who may have been well-qualified for the job, but after cleaning up hundreds of crime scenes, his mind no longer supports him.
The transition of watching Joel from cleaning up a job to eventually snapping is art in its truest form.
ABOUT THE MOVIE
Directed by Peter Klausner, Stomach It had a successful run in film festivals around the world. From Oscar-qualifying festivals in Nashville to Screamfest, Comic Con, Indy Shorts, FilmQuest, Panic Fest, and Cannes.
CAST:
Jon Lee Richardson
CREW:
Writer/Producer/Director: Peter Klausner
Producer: Torey Rubin
DP: Emily Tapanes
PD: Layla Kornota
Special Make-Up Effects: Michael Dinetz’s Haunted Dreams Effects Studio
Editor: Liam Molina
Composer: Robert Mai
Sound Designers: Karthik Mohan and Kevin Khor
Scare Scale: 4.5/5
*Stills provided by Lon Haber & Co
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