TIFF 2025 Review: DISC

A Hilarious, Horrifying One-Night Stand That Hits Too Close to Home

4.5 out of 5 stars

By Travis Brown

Blake Winston Rice is quickly becoming one of those names you clock early—then blink and he’s got a feature. With DISC, his latest short premiering at TIFF 2025 as part of the Short Cuts Programme One, Rice delivers another deeply relatable, bodily uncomfortable, and darkly hilarious exploration of modern sex and shame—this time starring genre favorite Jim Cummings alongside the perfectly cast Victoria Ratermanis.

The setup? A one-night stand that takes a sharp, squirmy turn the next morning, thanks to something far too many women know all too well: the menstrual disc.

That’s right—Rice doesn’t tiptoe. He walks right into the blood-soaked battlefield of sexual awkwardness, bodily autonomy, and post-intimacy panic. It’s funny because it’s real. But more than that, DISC highlights just how invisible, and often dismissed, women’s everyday physical experiences are—especially in the dating world.

Through Cummings’ growing confusion and Ratermanis’ matter-of-fact resilience, Rice builds an atmosphere that’s equal parts cringe comedy and social commentary. There’s no villain here—just one very real moment between two very different perspectives. And for all the men who’ve never had to reckon with what it actually means to have sex during a period—welcome to the show.

Fans of Sawdust, Teeth, or even Girls will recognize the tone, but DISC is fully its own. It’s a short that proves you don’t need monsters to make people squirm—you just need honesty, discomfort, and a little blood.

With high production value and razor-sharp writing, this is yet another example of Rice’s growing mastery of the short format. If this is just a proof-of-concept, someone give him the feature budget already.

DISC has its World Premiere Thursday, September 4th at the Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Short Cuts Programme One, with a second screening scheduled for Tuesday, September 9th at 10PM.

I'm giving this one a 4.5 out of 5.

It’s uncomfortable. It’s hilarious. It’s horrifying.

It’s the most real horror short you’ll see this fall.

Director: Blake Winston Rice

Writers: Blake Winston Rice, Victoria Ratermanis

Producers: Robert Ravenscroft, Blake Winston Rice, Victoria Ratermanis

Featuring: Victoria Ratermanis, Jim Cummings