Pruning is a 2023 short film directed by Lola Blanc and co-written by Blanc and Jeremy Radin.
Madeline Brewer stars as Sami Gellar, a right-wing commentator who must wrestle with her conscience after a mass shooter names her in his manifesto.
The short can be seen on YouTube at the horror channel Alter
.
Tropes:
- The Bad Guy Wins: Or at least, the part of Sami Gellar that has no conscience or morals does.
- Eldritch Abomination: Sami's conscience manifests itself as a fetus-like creature that Sami extracts from her throat. She deals with it by breaking its neck.
- Gory Discretion Shot: We hear some audio of the mass shooting but nothing is shown apart from Sami's reaction to it.
- Ironic Echo: When Sami's friend points out that the shooter specifically mentioned her in his manifesto, Sami says, "That is a tragedy but it has nothing to do with me". The shooter says the same to Sami when she has a nightmare about him.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Sami is deeply troubled by the fact that her words inspired someone to commit a mass shooting. This does not last.
- Plagued by Nightmares: Sami has a recurring dream in which she is jogging at night and gets the sense that she is being watched or followed. The third time she has it, she comes across the shooter watching a video of her and echoing her own words back at her.
- Riddle for the Ages: Bradley Parker sends Sami something in the mail before killing nine people at a liberal think tank and then himself. We never learn what was in the envelope.
- Smash to Black: The short cuts Sami off mid-sentence since we know what she is going to say.
- Villain Protagonist: While Sami Gellar does have a conscience, she often suppresses it in order to further her career. In the end, she does away with it entirely.
- White Is Pure: A subversion in that Sami often wears white throughout the short but it is clear from the start that she is far from innocent.
