Review: TINY CINEMA, Big Movie

Tyler Cornack, director/writer/actor/Jack-of-All-Trades, lives in a strange little universe all of his own.

He’s the brains behind Butt Boy (2019), where he played the titular character, a regular schmoe with a fetish for shoving whatever he can find up his ass, including, oddly enough, a child, which puts a cop investigating a disappearance on his tail (?!) and turning that bizarre indie curio into a serial killer thriller of sorts.

Cornack is also the man behind the Tiny Cinema YouTube channel, a collection of brief short films – most of them under a minute long – which treat setups, like finding jizz in your drink at a bar, as the most banal, everyday inconveniences. Joined by most of the cast and crew from his channel, Cornack now delivers a big screen version that doubles down on the budget, the length, and the weirdness. It’s a mix of horror, sci-fi, absurdist comedy and everything in between.

Silver-haired dwarf actor Paul Ford is our host on this trip through Bizarro World, and while it is tempting to just spoil everything for others in order to watch their “are you serious?” reactions, these are the sorts of stories best approached cold.

There’s the husband who has an existential meltdown over a lame joke; the lonely woman who finds company in a situation out of Nekromantik; the guy with a very specific fetish and the loyal friends who will do anything to help him out; the delivery man who has to pay a price to save the universe; stereotyped Sopranos-style mobsters whose cliché scenario ends up in an unlikely but very literal place; and the guy who gets unexpectedly pranked during a date, leading to a pretty bad case of Dad Joke-itis. Suffice it to say, none of these play out like you’re expecting, and watching Cornack and co-writers Ryan Koch and William Morean twist these expectations and just run with whatever out-there idea they happened to come up with is all part of the fun.

The entire film is shot like a 70s grindhouse pic; that COMING ATTRACTIONS intro that seems to pop up in every single modern B-movie seals the deal. Cornack is definitely inspired by more than one genre outing, if the random movie and TV references are anything to go by – everything from Buffalo Bill (you know which one) to Herbert West -- all of them viewed under his particular microscope, of course.

Everyone seems to be in on the joke, deadpanning their way through these absurd scenarios and narrowly skirting the line of tastelesness at the same time; some of this stuff can seem juvenile and in bad taste, but it’s so surreal and goofy you can’t help but laugh.

Tiny Cinema’s universe seems to operate on its own logic, but there’s a method to Tyler Cornack’s apparently random madness.  If you’re a fan of Butt Boy or the YouTube channel, then you’ll be right at home here. For everyone else, this it’s a welcome and hilarious introduction to Cornack’s World; come see the sights.

Tiny Cinema is available in select movie theaters Friday, September 2 and On Demand Tuesday, September 6. It will be available on Blu-ray Tuesday, October 11.