SQUEAL OF DEATH
 

Squeal of Death was Tom and Alex's major NYU filmschool project, telling the lifestory of character Howie (Alex), a geek gone bad. Neglected and tormented by his father, mother and big sister, young Howie seeks refuge at the weekly cinema where he watches the same old gangster movie every time with Gumbly Weatly, a film hero he looks up to. One day Howie accidentally winds up with a gun and decides to take out his vengeance on the world. After a series of robberies he's captured by an alert and persistent police officer and thrown in jail. Later Howie is sentenced to the electric chair.

AISLES OF DOOM

This short film tells the tale of Grendel T.W. Ulcerous, a scary, hellish proprietor of a corner store, who scares the living hell out of young children, until one day a mysterious demon slayer shows up, and saves the town from this monstrous man.

MEALS ON WHEELS

Short film Alex & Tom made for Playboy's "Inside Out" tv-series, starring Alex as a dweeb who spots a half dressed lady riding around on rollerblades and sucking on a popsicle. He chases her around through half of America, but every time he gets close to her, something bad happens to him, and the lady takes off another piece of her clothing. Finally he meets her in her apartment. The end of the story is surprising to some, predictable to others....

HOWIE MEETS THE GHOST OF ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS
YET TO COME

Short film Alex & Tom made for CBS "Hard Rock Cafe Saves the Planet" special. Alex stars again as Howie from Squeal of Death. Unfortunately Howie doesn't have so much respect for the environment and doesn't think twice to destroy a bug with a dozen cans of toxic chemicals. One night a ghost (Tom Stern) appears to him in a dream, to show him the results of several environmental catastrophes, if humanity continues to abuse the earth. Keanu Reeves has a guest appearance as an environmental activist demonstrating underneath Howie's window.

BUTTHOLE SURFERS SHORTFILM
ON IMPACT VIDEOMAGAZINE

This film was part of the first issue of IMPACT Video Magazine and tells the story of a family on vacation. Gibby Haynes (head Butthole surfer) stars as the head of the family with his wife and son. After following a sign saying "family style barbeque" the family ends up in a pretty bizarre situation with a couple of rednecks.

NYU SIGHT & SOUND PROJECT

This is definitely one of the earliest short films from NYU of Alex & Tom around. In this black and white silent film. Alex plays a geek reading the paper on a bench, approached by a drug dealer who sells him a banana.

P.A.

This has to be a short film one of Alex's fellow students at NYU must have made. In the film the head character is (of course) a student filmmaker who has a job on the set of an actual movie as a P.A. (Production Assistant). He does really menial tasks but he figures that the experience of being around an actual movie set will be beneficial. He's given an assignment by his boss to sit up all night and watch the street they're filming on to make sure no cars park there. This pic was taken from a fragment where Alex drives along and asks if he won't come to help with their movie, but he decides to stick with his job, even though it sounds so ludicrous. He manages to keep the street clean of cars, and when the morning breaks he decides he'll buy some donuts for the crew, in the hopes they'll appreciate his thoughtfullness. When he comes back from the donutshop, there's a car parked on the street. The filmcrew arrives and his boss lays into him mercilessly. He decides then to walk off the shoot and goes to join his friends making the studentfilm instead.

SEX, SHOCK & CENSORSHIP IN AMERICA

This Showtime Special features Alex as white rapper Stinx on Ice (aka Stanley Arzalinca) complete with spiky hair, baggy pants and a huge golden necklace. Talkshowhostess Faye Sommerfield (Shelley Long) covers the trial against Stinx' hitsong "Kill your teacher". Represented by attorney Alvin Gershowitz, Stinx gets sentenced to jail, which leads to his next song "Kill your lawyer". Hilariously biting satire.