James Quinn’s twenty minute short film, The Law of Sodom, is an experience that I’ll never forget.

The Law of Sodom is a searing portrait of the hell that is schizophrenia. Quinn (who also stars in the film) takes us on a surreal journey into the darkest depths of the mind. To put it mildly, this is not a film for the faint of heart. This is the kind of film that Rob Zombie keeps trying to make but doesn’t have the guts to execute. The look and feel of the film is more like Tarkovsky meets E. Elias Merhige. The beautiful, grainy cinematography – along with brief and hallucinatory animated sequences, as well as the meticulously crafted sound mix – are in the service of a deeply personal tone poem about a man caught in the middle of a harrowing affliction. There are no easy answers and absolutely no way out.

Once this film has it’s clutches in you, you won’t be able to turn away. What you will know is that you have seen a work of art. This is what the medium is capable of. An award-winner in the festival circuit,  is now available for rent on Vimeo.