It is Halloween, the festive, carnivalesque spirit has begun to stretch out its limbs and before you know, three drunk men are lugging a metal post box-esque contraption across the corner of a street. Minor acts of vandalism are not stuff of nightmares, but this specific object soon becomes the MacGuffin of ‘Wastelanders’, propelling an unsuspecting man’s life into absolute chaos. 
 

As wonderfully bizarre as it sounds, this is the premise of the film, a complete punch of crime, action, thrill, all neatly packed within a few minutes. 

A drunken night with his friends has left Adam in possession of this mailbox that now needs to be taken care of. However, in the process, some important paperwork is also discarded with it. When Adam returns to retrieve it, a terrible development awaits him, and he gets swooped up in the rigmarole of a violent, criminal act that is threatening to run out of control. 

The consistency of the world conjured with the storytelling and characters, suffice to say, exhibits finesse in execution, approach and tonality. Despite the simultaneous development of the several events, the film upholds the lucidity of its plot, ensuring that the viewer is equally invested in each of these events. 'Wastelanders' is a well-handled film, leaving one with the prospect of more such storytelling by Patryk Terelak and Rockwell White.

Wastelanders  | Short Film of the Month

Not for the haters of jump-scares, but oh, what a ride is ‘Paranormal Investigators’! While horror-comedy might not be the easiest genre to deal with, efficiently employing the characteristics of the two categories to both amuse and horrify, Markus Meedt makes it look like a walk in the park. The film employs elements from both, ensuring each punch lands as intended. 

It is Abi’s first day at BPIT or the British Paranormal Investigation Team, when things soon begin to devolve into absolute chaos. What may have begun with a brief collision with hostile colleagues, soon takes the form of a haunting that is sure to stay with the entire BPIT team for a long, long time. 

Pushed in a corner in the face of an invincible adversary, both metaphorically and quite literally, the characters have little to turn to for help, when something unexpected happens. The narrative’s path to this eventual point of release is an entertaining, engrossing one. The characters are endearing and amusing, and in the process, ensure that you end up going all the way with them on this frightening, exciting journey.

Paranormal Investigators | Short Film of the Month

Any interaction with death, especially that of a loved one, often renders one changed in a permanent fashion. More so if it comes at an early age, as Boo portrays. The short film takes us into the life of a family which is battling the aftermath of a member's death and the different ways in which it comes to affect them. While grief is a universal sentiment, the manner of dealing with it is highly individual, specific to each person. This becomes the second concern of the film. 

When the story begins, it is also the time of Halloween, when we choose to remember the dead and those who have moved on. We even dress up as them, opening our very doors to you and I in attires of supernatural beings on the other side of it. And yet, when death truly arrives at our own doorstep, it's garbed in grief, longing and heartache, unlike the costumes we don every year. The short film is a sincere engagement with the same sentiment, also delineating a child's first exposure to a loved one's death and the immutable nature of such an occurrence. There is a dedicated exploration of the several manners in which the experience can manifest itself in a child's lived reality, and how it goes beyond the simple refusal to take off her Halloween costume of a white ghost even after the evening is over. 

At its very start, the narrative is marked by an oppressive silence and a completely still frame. The quiet is deliberately kept overwhelming to the extent of suffusing you with a sense of relief, gratefulness even, when the first signs of music creep into the narrative. This is enhanced further by a frugality of dialogue that works wonderfully in the story's favour. On the whole, the film becomes a conversation with loss and death, and the way it finds itself tied to the innocence of childhood, as well as the endurability of sorrow and the form it acquires in adulthood. Weaving these elements together allows the film to be a coherent narrative presented forth for the viewer's participation.

Boo | Short Film of the Day

It's Halloween when Emma and Olivia, equipped with matching cat hairbands, step out and head to a location in the darkness of the night. However, due to a mix-up, they end up on the wrong set of bleachers that sit silently in the shadows. This is followed by a realization that despite the desolation of the spot, they are not entirely alone. Soon the unwelcome presence makes himself known.

 While the women may have dismissed him after a cursory look, the viewer knows better by this point. Something sinister brews under the surface, waiting to reveal itself at the slightest provocation.

 As the story comes into being, it combines humor with horror to share its developments with you. It sprinkles the two emotions with ease, attempting to generate both laughs and chills, at the expense of the fateful turn of events unfolding before you. The narrative also goes the extra mile to locate itself very much in contemporary reality, deeply setting its roots in a circumstance we are all too familiar with by now, striving for a balance between between shivers and laughter all along. Notwithstanding a little want of polishing of the rough edges, the eventual outcome of the film is definitely notable, and makes one look forward to future projects by the team.

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