A husband is freed from prison.


THE NUN SLAYER is used with permission from Ben Bovington-Key. Learn more at benkeyfilms.com/.


Mild-mannered milkman Donald confessed to killing six nuns and was thrown into prison for life. But later evidence revealed Donald was not the killer. He was just a fraud and is set to be freed decades later.

He is picked up by his wife, Ophelia, on his release day. But Ophelia isn't thrilled to see Donald. He's not the cold-blooded murderer she fell in love with, Ophelia having written to Donald and married him after he was put behind bars. She feels Donald is a stranger to her and their marriage is a sham, and now Donald may lose the woman and wife he loves.

Directed and written by Ben Bovington-Key, this eccentric short dark comedy blends a snapshot of a marriage in crisis with a cheeky, ironic send-up of true crime's fascination and hold on people. Ophelia began her romance with Donald when he was behind bars, imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit but took credit for. She was impressed by the sinister allure of his crime, and Donald fell in love with her, wooing her with disturbing details of his so-called crimes.

The storytelling is a masterful juggling act of tone, making the macabre into the mundane and workaday. Its clever writing has a dry, disturbingly funny wit, turning gruesome criminal details into platitudes meant to woo a starry-eyed young girl. The visuals possess a retro playfulness that belies the disturbing subject matter, using old-school movie tricks, warmly burnished 70s-esque cinematography and slight camp touches in the production and costume design to create a slightly unreal world that these two exist in. It feels removed from reality as we know it, creating a sense that these two live in a world of their own.

The film's artistry has a dark whimsicality, but it is sincere and serious about the couple's marital crisis, and as Ophelia and Donald get to grips on where they stand as a pair, the writing possesses finely honed insights about the nature of marriage itself. After the initial high of getting together, spouses often struggle with accepting their partners as they are, warts and all -- and not the shiny, idealized picture they had during courtship. Funny yet sincere performances by actors Matthew Cottle and Ellie Nunn bring this dilemma to life, and both actors balance the comedic demands of the storytelling with a genuine sense of emotional crisis that could lead to a permanent parting of ways.

Fascinating, droll and yet emotionally insightful, THE NUN SLAYER is a creative high-wire act, making the extreme into understatement and transforming the outlandish into the relatably domestic. It also gets right how much we want to be loved and adored by our partners -- something Donald discovers as he realizes just how far he will go to prove his love to Ophelia. It's a dark ending, but in this oddball hall-of-mirrors of a narrative, it's a strangely happy one -- and memorable, no matter how you look at it.