We have long been fans of filmmaker Eric Lim in these parts, with a quick search of the ScreenAnarchy archives pulling up stories about his work going back around a decade now. He's a bit of a hard guy to pin down, really, most often serving officially as a producer on projects but typically far more involved than that tag implies with Lim generally fostering communities of like minded talents with whom he creates a pretty much glorious assortment of oddities. There have been giant monster films, science fiction, action, and a dark fantasy fueled by personal tragedy. And now he's going somewhere he's never gone before: The western.
Lim's latest work sees him re-team with director Stephen Reedy - with whom he collaborated on The Forge - and indie fight fave Dennis Ruel to create The Man From Death, a loopy, psychedlic western intended to serve as proof of concept for a feature film. And if they've managed to pack this much madness into a short I can only imagine what may lie in store for a full feature.
A poor, dumb sap, Elijah Stryder and his wife, Mrs. Stryder, are attacked by the nefarious Ailester Hall and left for dead in the wild wild west. That poor sap, Stryder, awakens with a mysterious green colored list of prophecies that mysteriously lead him on a journey of fun and fancy free adventures with his skeptical partner, Sergio. There is only one caveat, Stryder is not allowed to take revenge on the man who shot and killed his wife. Can Stryder keep his composure and learn how to forgive, or well he ruin it for everybody? It might be the latter.
Yep, there's quite a lot of fight work in this one from both Lim and co-star Ruel - watch for a particularly inventive take down around the 2:35 mark - along with a bit of time travel and a whole lot of vintage video game and comic book influence. This is super fun stuff from a perpetually restless creative talent. Check out the short below.