The difference between a pretentious student filmmaker and a pretentious professional filmmaker is simply knowing the difference between allegory and metaphor. Misty and her friends, who belong in category one, clearly do not - which is why their work is so much more interesting than the late Stan Brackhage and his tiresome underground ilk. Misty's surrealistic erotica ushers forth nostalgic waves: days of our own cinematic education, at a time when being outrageous was serious freakin' business.

Only six minutes long, and based on a real life experience, Voodoun Blues packs every frame of its 16mm B&W badass self with interpretive dream imagery comprised of knives, animated dolls, evil-eyed stares and occult nudity (the latter being most important to AVN readers.) The blues track ain't too shabby, either.

Two other shorts (Sour Milk by Joe Miller and Katie Bordeaux's Night of the Whorror Hoppers) accompany the title film. While not steeped in voodoo, they each share a thematic Gothnicity revolving around weird dolls (gotta love that Hitler action figure in Milk) and bloody revenge. And nudity. Thank you Lord, for angst-ridden college girls.

In a rambling interview that's longer than the combined running time of all three shorts, Misty cites cinematic influences such as Starewicz and Svankmajer. In a world where Spike Jones is flave du jour in most films schools, the fact that she even knows who these pioneer stop-motion animators are is a minor miracle! Ultimately, Misty is a bright and pretty kid who'll probably have a tremendous career making the future equivalent of Marilyn Manson music videos.