Evil witches, handcuffed knife fights, and lots of pickle licking (Friday nights at the Loft).

You won't find any pre-movie advertisements asking you to turn off your phone or keep silent during the film. Not tonight anyway. That's because tonight is the Loft Theater's Friday Night Shorts competition, one of the Tucson venue's most creative and unique events.

The premise= anyone can bring in a film, ten minutes or less, and the Loft will screen it before a bloodthirsty (and let's face it, mildly drunk) audience of their peers. The film is run for three minutes uninterrupted. After that, things tend to get a bit crazy.

A red spotlight is lit, shining down on a large bronze gong just offstage. Standing next to it is host Max Cannon, who some people may know through his work for Comedy Central or his comic strip "Red Meat."

"The red light is the signal," said Jeff Yanc, the Loft program director. "If the audience hates it, it's their chance to scream and yell as loud as they can."

And yell they do... not to mention boo, curse, catcall, you name it. "We serve beer and wine, so the audience is expected to get a little rowdy during the show," said Yanc.

If the discontent of the crowd grows too great, Cannon smashes the gong with a mallet and the film is disqualified from competition. The few films left standing at the end are judged and the audience favorite receives a hundred dollars from the Tucson Film Office.

The best part of the competition isn't the audience interaction but the films themselves. From westerns to science fiction to claymation peas, these films probably aren't going be winning any Oscars. They are however, guaranteed to leap of the screen with an originality and an irreverently twisted sense of humor that, quite frankly, just wouldn't fly in any where else.

The films aren't rated or pre-screened beforehand, so you're never quite sure what you're going to get. "There's definitely been some questionable subject matter in the past but no one's gone too far overboard," said Yanc. "In between films we also have 'ringers' and funny clips like old exercise videos because we want to make this a fun event and keep people energized."

It's a winning formula and it happens the first Friday of every month, so come to the Loft and shout it out with an audience of students and the intoxicated. Just be sure to bring some attitude and a strong set of lungs.

Check out other Loft events here

or check out part of the competition's second place winner, Joseph Torretti's "Legacy"