Fruithead Short Film Delivers ’90s Halloween Nostalgia
If you’re a millennial, you’re likely familiar with Gushers candies. They were all the rage back in the ’90s, especially during the Halloween season.
This week, Gushers (yes, the company still exists) released Fruithead, a short horror film inspired by their infamous vintage ad campaign that featured kids turning into fruits. The film, which stars Bradley Whitford as a ruthless commercial director, is about eight minutes long.
In the ’90s, Richard (Whitford) was dissatisfied with the unconvincing special effects at his disposal, so he uses some kind of sinister sorcery to transform a child’s head into a strawberry. The kid actor, Jacob (Chester Collins), is hideously disfigured for life. Years later, a masked Jacob breaks into Richard’s house and seeks revenge.
Are we seeing the birth of a new trend? This is the second time in recent weeks that a company has released a short horror film to promote their product. The previous movie was Sweet Revenge, a Jason Voorhees short sponsored by Angry Orchard.
I won’t do a full review, since there isn’t much to cover in such a brief film, but the production values and acting are better than I expected. This feels like a movie, not just a glorified commercial. It’s worth checking out this Halloween season.
Want to watch Fruithead yourself? Here it is:
