Snow gently falls on the blood-stained streets of a seedy out-of-time New York City. Steam envelopes the nightmare unfolding within its narrow alleys. Iron is the will of the one who would dare to resist... fight... survive.
Snow Steam Iron is a 4-minutes Short Film written and directed by Zack Snyder. It was shot using an iPhone and first released in September 2017 on Vero, the social media Snyder is a prominent user of.
The action focuses on Lin Woo (Samantha Win), a model who fights back after her latest assignment sends her to a photographer who enjoys hurting women. When a bunch of gangsters and corrupt cops are brought in to keep her quiet, Lin Woo turns the tables once again, despite the odds being against her.
The cast also includes Victoria Jacobsen as Lin's friend Scarlett and Jen Sung as the Mafia boss.
Provides examples of:
- The '30s: By the look of it, it's the era the piece is set in.
- Alas, Poor Yorick: Scarlett strikes poses with a bearded man's decapitated head.
- Anachronic Order: The events do not unfold in a linear manner.
- Color Wash: The colors are muted, as expected with the director. It makes it appear cold and surreal.
- Creator Thumbprint: The short's Color Wash and extremely detailed slow motion are enough to instantly identify it as a Zack Snyder work. The allusions to classical religious art - specifically, pieces depicting Judith beheading Holofernes - make it even easier. In fact, you can certainly refer to this short if anyone ever asks you to describe how Zack Snyder directs.
- Deadly Dodging: Lin dodges a gangster's chopper just as he was about to kill her with it, and it hits the gangster who was restraining her instead.
- Dirty Cop: Cops are seen helping gangsters to get rid of Lin.
- Dramatic Gun Cock: When Lin Woo is about to point blank shoot the head of the cop who brutalized her.
- Drop Dead Gorgeous: Scarlett's dead bare-breasted body is seen about one minute into the short. She's seen alive later in it due to the Anachronic Order.
- Fan Disservice: A bare-breasted Scarlett on a chair... holding a decapitated head. And she almost kisses it.
- Gory Discretion Shot: At least two of them: one when Lin Woo chops off the arm of a cop, and one other when she fires a gun at point blank on the head of the last remaining cop.
- Lawman Baton: The dirty cops carry batons. Lin turns one against its owner and sends his Teeth Flying with it.
- A Love to Dismember: Scarlett's nose touches the decapitated head's own and almost kisses it at one point. And she's bare-breasted.
- Ms. Fanservice: Scarlett is bare-breasted for most of her screentime.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Lin massacring the mafia men and Dirty Cops after they tried to kill her (and after receiving a beating from one of them) counts as this, and also possibly out of revenge for the murder of Scarlett.
- Shout-Out: Scarlett holding the head of a bearded man (a mafia boss perhaps) brings Judith and Holofernes to mind.
- Snow Means Death: There's snow when Lin kills the gangsters and Dirty Cops who came for her.
- Teeth Flying: Lin sends several of the teeth of the cop who beat her up early on flying when she hits his face with a police baton.
- The Voiceless: No one speaks, there is no dialogue. The music, objects noises and a few shouts of pain make most of the short's sound design.
