Celebrating 21 years of independent, breakout cinema and its first year in its new LA home, Slamdance 2025 kicks off for another edition of bold, original storytelling. First up on our docket is Cory Santilli’s In The Mouth, a crisp black-and-white comedy that operates on dream logic and plays by its own rules. A surprisingly personal film for how absurd it gives itself permission to be, but hands down one of the highlights of this year’s festival.
In The Mouth stars Colin Burgess (Inspector Ike) as an anxiety-riddled man named Merl, desperately looking for roommate. If he can’t scrape together some extra cash fast, he’s going to get evicted. But desperation doesn’t exactly attract the most trustworthy people and Merl is too occupied with his own problems to notice that he’s just welcomed a dangerous criminal into his home. It’s a real will-they/won’t-they-kill-eachother-in-their-sleep when it’s not a wait-wtf-is-happening-right-now? kind of story.
Colin Burgess also stars in Lockjaw, another official selection of Slamdance 2025, in a much different role. Lockjaw follows the interpersonal dynamics of a group of friends currently going through it, but In The Mouth rests almost exclusively on Burgess’s shoulders. Described as “a perpetual worrywart”, Burgess’s character Merl is terrified of leaving his house after discovering a giant version of himself rising up from his lawn. Needless to say, Merl is a little too tied-up with this new monster-sized nuisance to do any digging into the background of a roommate willing to pay several months’ rent upfront.Â
It’s hard to describe In The Mouth accurately because it really plays by its own rules, always juggling anxiety and absurdity. It’s a comedy with a crushing sense of doom, and simultaneously also an indie character study about agoraphobia with gut-busting kooky characters and heightened reality. BUT ALSO, a bizarro crime caper daydream where literally anything could happen. Santilli crafts a world that feels so far removed from our own but still weirdly relatable. It’s a brilliant indie feature and surely one of the strangest ‘n’ funniest things you’ll see this year. Unless of course you wake up one morning to find a Easter Island sized head sticking out of your garden.
“A comedy with a crushing sense of doom […] and a bizarro crime caper daydream where literally anything could happen.”
Cory Santilli’s In The Mouth celebrated its World Premiere at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival. Click HERE to follow our continued coverage of the fest and let us know what you would do if you discovered a giant, head rising out of your yard over in the official Nightmare on Film Street Discord!
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