Film Review: WILD BITCH: A Wildly Clever Short Film with a Dark Edge [SXSW 2022]

Wild Bitch Review

Wild Bitch (2022) Film Review from the 29th Annual South by Southwest Film Festival, a short movie written and directed by Rebekka Johnson and Kate Nash and starring Rebekka Johnson, Kate Nash, Ptolemy Slocum, Daved Wilkins and Christopher Nicholas Smith.

Wild Bitch is a unique short movie that features two very distinct personalities. Written and directed by its stars, Rebekka Johnson and Kate Nash, it’s an unpredictable little picture about two women from different worlds who come together for their own personal reasons.

Rebekka Johnson portrays a housewife named Barb Cramper and Kate Nash plays a small time TV news reporter, Melanie Fischer. These two completely opposite women have assembled for a news story which Melanie hopes could lead to potentially bigger and better juicy stories. These two females get together near the woods. Melanie has come with a TV crew of men (which includes a guy named Rich who is played by Ptolemy Slocum) to hopefully break a story.

With her frumpy look which includes plainly shaped dark hair, Barb has an agenda which isn’t clear to Melanie throughout the short picture. It is absolutely clear to audiences that Barb isn’t playing with a full deck but Melanie follows her for the possibility of the great story that is promised to her. Barb goes on about her husband and her frustrations with doing laundry but is obviously off her rocker making the fact that Melanie sticks by her (going as far to walk with Barb without her crew) a little far-fetched. But, still, the movie maintains the audience’s interest.

With her interesting puffy hair style and dressy shoes, Melanie seems a bit naive as she is informed by Barb about a hungry coyote. While it is completely unbelievable that Melanie would stick by this oddball, it makes for an interesting little short picture because we are intrigued enough to see where Barb is leading Melanie.

At the end of this short film, we discover a few things about what makes Barb “tick,” and also learn a little about Melanie as well. There’s even a bit of violence thrown in for good measure although it’s hard to know what these two women will tell the authorities once the credits roll. This short movie has the potential for feature film length expansion and I could imagine the whole development of these two characters before and after the movie’s big reveal.

Nash has the harder role here because it is her job to make the audience invested in her news reporter character enough to understand how desperate she is and why she ultimately decides to follow Johnson’s Barb into the woods. I would have ran the other way from Barb but the fact that Melanie does not says something about how bad her character wants that interesting “scoop.” Still, Johnson excels in the part she plays and keeps a straight face throughout making her character all the more freaky. In support, Slocum’s cameraman is an interesting character to follow as he will ultimately play a big part in the movie’s climax.

There’s also a fun song called “Wild Bitch” which is played at the credits and it adds a campy fun factor to this film. I wouldn’t be surprised if this picture served as an introduction to much bigger things for the two intriguing actresses whose performances the film showcases.

Wild Bitch surely has enough quirkiness and the performances by both Johnson and Nash are well conceived enough to make audiences want to see more of their characters in a longer movie. This particular short film isn’t perfect by any means because it’s so far-fetched but in a longer movie, the picture’s twist may work with more explanation and details thrown in for good measure.

I would say Wild Bitch is an interesting little movie to take a look at and may just leave you wondering if you would have followed Barb into the woods yourself to see what she had to show you.

Rating: 7/10

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