'Shiny New World' Review: If Hellsing Were Keen On Cleanliness | Toronto After Dark 2021

Jan van Gorkum's 9-minute short Shiny New World is a hilarious instructional video teaching you how to clean up after a demon makes a mess killing people. The film uses all the earmarks of corporate how-to videos of the '80s and '90s and even some informercial tropes.

The dead-pan, dry humour build the satire wonderfully. Patrick Stoof plays the cleaner Barry well — he delivers the instruction with genuine knowledge and just the right amount of camp needed. The cherry on top is Gijs Scholten van Aschat's voice over. The cheeky, all-knowing authority providing commentary on the best practices, new technology, and most importantly, the customer service required.

Shiny New World brings to mind The Cleaners of the John Wick franchise ("dinner reservation", anyone?) or more specifically, the BBC sitcom The Cleaner (2021– ) where Greg Davies plays the cleaner for criminals. The Cleaner is based on a German sitcom, Der Tatortreiniger. This is all to say that Shiny New World is not a novel idea, but it is an interesting twist to the concept, and the introduction of demons fits well.

Gorkum has aspirations of adapting Shiny New World into a full-length feature film, and I, for one, would love to see it. The styling, lean dialogue, and humour are right up my street, and whether it's Shiny New World or another project, I'm excited for whatever Gorkum does in the future.

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival runs online from October 13 to 17.