The film is stunning and horrifying at the same time, making it the most wonderful treat for the intelligent horror viewer. Thanks to its VFX, there is a surreal, other-worldly feel to it which cannot be simply chalked down to its supernatural subject. It also employs a beautiful metaphor about the overwhelming, and thus sometimes scary, innate power of the self when allowed to spread it wings unbridled. By its choice of the protagonist to be a woman, the story further becomes a comment on female energy and gender, another aspect that is engaged with in the film. Five women head to a property for a holiday where they play with a Ouija board. Their seance is seemingly left incomplete followed by a subsequent shot of women dancing in the moonlight in a garden. The scene is beautifully crafted like a ritual in itself as the women move freely without the inhibition of ideas of body, shame, guilt or self-consciousness of any kind. The all-female space in the process gives a glimpse into a world where women are perhaps free of all societal and cultural constructs that threaten to curb their freedom in different ways. The narrative is conjured beautifully where horror exists not simply to shock the unsuspecting viewer, but to also disconcert them by introducing them with its exploration of the self, its core beliefs and conditioning, and the sense of power and control.

White Echo

Whether or not the film intended it, it manages to convey more than a single story through its layered narrative. A nurse, played by Gemma Whelan of the Game of Thrones fame, finds herself making her way into an eerie house which is in a state of complete abandon. The only other inhabitant of it is her patient, a bed-ridden, elderly woman. The film builds itself slowly, maintaining a pace which strikes the right balance between revealing and concealing adequate amounts of the plot. As the nurse gets to taking care of chores and looking after her patient, she stumbles across a door which wasn't previously visible on the wall. Just when she is about to succeed at opening it, indistinct noises from inside forces her to not only shut it tightly, but block its path completely to ensure it never manages to open itself. Of course this isn't the end of the road for our protagonist, instead only the beginning. The door begins to follow her around the house. However, her most difficult obstacle is perhaps something else, as suggested by the haunting, most jarring climax and the conclusion of the film. Additionally, the image of the door struggling to open itself, but constantly being pushed back by the protagonist in her fear of the unknown, becomes a notable message about one's internal struggles to shut out what is unknown to them, even if it potentially holds the key to their escape from a far more horrifying situation.

The Blue Door | Gemma Whelan | Short Film of the Day

The film exploits its economy of dialogues to a huge extent and disturbs the viewer deeply in the process. Reminding you once again that supernatural is not always important to invoke a deep sense of horror and chills that run down your spine, threatening to consume your being, the film instead employs the darkness of the human mind. It simply rides on objects found in any average household - sewing pins and brooches - to terrify the viewer. There is no direct act of overt violence, mind you, beyond the image of a man tied to a bed. There is also no ostentatious camerawork or gimmicky plot devices to hook the viewer to the narrative. However, what the film achieves is something far deeper and darker. It shows the complete collapse of a familial space, a structure we are traditionally conditioned to see as a source of warmth and safety. It drives its characters to points of selfish acts from where there is no return in the name of preserving their lives. Based on a true story of a woman who had harmed her family in a similar fashion as the protagonist of the film, Nose Nose Nose Eyes is the stuff of nightmare even fans of horror were too scared to ask for, but were rewarded with it anyway.

Nose Nose Nose Eyes | Short Film of the Day

The short film is a skilfully disconcerting exploration of maternal love and the disturbing manner in which it tears a family apart. It opens with a grim shot of a red-cheeked child in a coffin, invoking a sense of morbidity that would come to haunt the entirety of the narrative. Unable to let go of their dead son, the couple finds itself making their way to a doll-maker. The latter can briefly make them forget about the death of their son, with a fair warning to never let the illusion overpower their sense of reality. As a horror story would have it, the characters of course overlook the warning, or find themselves incapable of paying heed to it, leading to dire consequences. The Dollmaker is a deeply engaging story, sure to satisfy admirers of horror and otherwise. Albeit not entirely fresh, it is an interesting and engaging comment on the indomitable human desire to bring someone back from the dead and to seek transitory relief, as illusory as it might be, from loss and pain, even at the cost of complete self-annihilation.

The Dollmaker | Short Film of the Day

The short film invokes the most disconcerting narrative by portraying how sometimes the source of our worst fears are the very places which should have been associated with comfort and safety. The story is predominantly of a single night when a girl finds herself realising that her most fearsome and loathsome thoughts stem from a young man she has decided to invest herself too deeply in. The film further offers an interesting exploration of the dynamics of a heteronormative relationship where the boy threatens her mental and emotional security, if not physical. In a society where conversation around gender is gaining prominence, it is often convenient for oppressive tools of patriarchy to steer clear off overtly problematic behaviour that allows them to pander to their ego and sense of righteousness. Amidst all of this, what of the consciousness of a young woman trapped in a relationship with a man who stands for everything she abhors? The Rat is a potent comment on how women find themselves located in a society where patriarchy reigns free. The protagonist may have drawn whiskers on her face with little cat ears to go. However, when she wakes up to find her makeup smudged the following morning, would she find it in her to finally outplay the rat?

The Rat | Short Film of the Day

The realm ‘Oso’ conjures is disturbing, involving, and above all, powerful. The story of the film is about a man called Javi breaking into a house where his daughter lives with her mother. 

The protagonist is clearly an unwelcome presence here. The reason behind this circumstance soon becomes clear as the film takes you deeper into its world. The space is marked by the horrors of a monstrous being; if literal for one character, it is metaphorical for another. 

The exploration of Javi’s reality, a relative phenomenon existing beyond the area of any definite, monolithic truths, is portrayed with meticulousness and beautiful, albeit disturbing, authenticity. The sound design and the seamless edit become remarkable strengths of the film, ensuring no stone is unturned in presenting to the viewer this extremely unreliable narrator that they cannot help but feel for. The writing, storytelling, and performances further allow the film to be a cohesive whole.

Oso | Short Film of the Day

Without explicitly stating thus, the film becomes a beautiful story about marginalization, and more so when it is self-inflicted as a result of the external social forces of the world the protagonist is located in. Sadia Hassan is tied to a strange condition that once turned her into a zombie, leading her to commit heinous, atrocious crimes. And even though, the world may have found a way to contain the ‘Otherness’ of this reality with drugs and all kinds of medical treatment, ensuring big profits for pharma conglomerates in the process, Sadia’s ordeal is far from over. 

While the external monster may have been muzzled, and quite literally, the internal monster that Sadia battles is overpowering and all-consuming, forcing her to accept that her own humanity is now a thing long lost and forgotten. It is the monster of guilt that torments her with the memory of her past actions, and the life that once was. 

The film exhibits beautiful writing, especially in terms of the internal conflicts of its characters, as well as powerful performances (an elevated Anya Chalotra-esque protagonist, for instance). Anisha Savan’s storytelling brings to life a refreshing voice that evidences deep potential, and should definitely be explored in future projects.

I'll Never Be Alive Again | Short Film Nominee

Static frames take you into a world marked by routine, mundaneness and isolation. We are introduced to a man whose performance of even the most ordinary tasks, like having a meal or watching television, puts us at unease. This glimpse into his life is interspersed with another visual, marked not by movement, but stillness - the frame of a door. Behind it lie disconcerting secrets, those in whose revelation rest the undoing of this world as we know it. 

 The narrative comes into its own gradually, presenting every bit of information in a controlled, calculated manner. Consequently, when the reveal arrives, the viewer has been deliberately led far from it, amplifying the ensuing horror and shock. 

 A Sickness eventually becomes a story that makes us reassess our own preconceived notions. Can you be tricked into believing a version of the truth simply after a superficial comprehension of an issue or concern? The film answers the question, but akin to its approach so far, in a manner that catches you completely unprepared.

A Sickness | Short Film of the Day

'Unveiled' is an exploration of a strange occurrence that is about to throw the protagonist’s reality into complete chaos. A woman prepares for bed before calling it a night when she begins to sense an unnatural presence in the bathroom with her. 

The film is more about the establishment of a world within the confines of a fixed physical space, rather than the cause and effect or the before-and-after of the said circumstance. 

To this, it brings absolute devotion and attention to detail. The brief narrative is tightly structured, utilizing every beat to its advantage. This could perhaps serve as the first part of a longer story. It would be a welcome prospect to go deeper into the world of the protagonist as well as the realm of horror she is about to be confronted with.

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