By Sarah Danielzadeh
On the last block of Sabado Tarde Road in Isla Vista, California, UCSB students and Isla Vista locals gathered outside at 10 p.m. on a recent Sunday with popcorn and blankets to enjoy some late-night absurdist comedy. As about 50 people closely huddled in anticipation, Film and Media Studies major Dylan Ruebenstahl began the screening of his latest film, titled SOUP, projected on the exterior of a friend’s house.
Dylan Ruebenstahl’s flyer for the SOUP premiere screening in Isla Vista, California, near UC Santa Barbara.
SOUP, a 20-minute experimental horror film, contains a number of scenes that Ruebenstahl termed “depraved” and “disturbing.” The plot features a man who slowly becomes obsessed with soup to the point where soup consumes his entire life. Eventually, the man actually turns into soup. Ruebenstahl, who calls himself “a one-man show” wrote, filmed and acted alone in SOUP.
The SOUP event was Ruebenstahl’s fourth Isla Vista movie premiere since he began showing his films in 2020. He said he enjoys the way his films can bring his local community together. “Even though my films aren’t very well-known outside of Isla Vista, it’s fun to watch them with people who are familiar with my work,” he said. “The turnout is usually 50% friends, 50% strangers.”
Ruebenstahl’s ludicrous and out-of-pocket ideas make for "“incredibly meta,” or self-referential, films, said Maia Surendra, a SOUP premiere attendee. “I was equally disturbed and entertained by his movie,” she said. “But one thing is for sure: His ideas are innovative and have truly never been done before.”
Ruebenstahl’s focus is absurdist comedy, but he includes elements of horror, action or romance in all of his creations. He was first inspired to major in film at UCSB when he realized that his funny ideas could be shared via film.
“The first movie I ever made was a film where I catfished a group of guys by pretending to be a girl on Tinder. I then got them all to meet me at the beach at the same time,” Ruebenstahl recounted. “It was just a weird idea that I thought would be entertaining and I realized the best way to capture the experience was through film.”
UC Santa Barbara film student Dylan Ruebenstahl on a self-made set for his upcoming film, Cyber Surfer.
Much of Ruebenstahl’s inspiration comes from off-the-wall comedians such as Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim who star on an Adult Swim show titled Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! “They’re like the original Adult Swim live-show comedians,” he said.
The film student also idolizes 1980s horror film director John Carpenter and his approach to casting his horror movies, such as The Thing. “Carpenter would cast actors like Kurt Russell, who always gave a corny delivery of lines, but in a way that’s stylish, cool and fits the film’s aesthetics,” Ruebenstahl said. “This dramatic acting just makes movies so much funnier.”
Ruebenstahl’s next film is titled Cyber Surfer. As a member of UCSB’s surf team, Ruebenstahl decided to mesh his love for filmmaking and surfing by creating a movie that mixes one of his comedic narratives with a surf edit.
The story’s main character is a surfer who is also an avid believer of QAnon, a far-right internet conspiracy theory that falsely claims former President Donald Trump is being undermined by Democratic pedophiles. The protagonist then meets and develops feelings for a devoted liberal environmentalist named Meg.
“The story’s conflict will be about being torn between two sides: the surfer’s feelings for Meg and the directions he receives from Donald Trump himself,” said Ruebenstahl. “Making Donald Trump an active character in this film is the absurd comedy part of it.”
Unlike his past films, Cyber Surfer will cast Ruebenstahl’s friends and fellow surf team members. He said it should be ready for a premiere in a year. “This is something I have been working on for a while now. It’s not just a movie, but more of a passion project,” he said.
Sarah Danielzadeh has just graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in English and a double minor in Professional Writing and Applied Psychology. She is a Web and Social Media intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.