love you, baby

A documentary about the last phone call I had with my annoying wife. Impressive choreography and photography. If you have kids who are scared of ladies coming down stairs do NOT bring them to any screenings of this spookablast

Oh Breadwinner! What a meanie Hubby you were! Ha ha
That poor woman, jeepers I was clutching my seat. The whole one take thing done so well, so scary. Nice timing of moves and the conversation. Felt very authentic. Hard to be home alone after that.

So well done guys! Sets such a good spooky atmosphere, the boyfriend character is perfect at being the dismissive unlikable character (had me actually rolling me eyes) and the end reveal made me jump at the heats! Nice lighting throughout and great use of the houses layout for the one take.

What I liked:
Some nice things going on in the background here, and I think everyone has been in this situation where they have or think they have heard noises inside their house when alone. Houses get big in that situation! The dilemma of investigating or trying and shutting any thoughts out of your head and going to sleep is very relatable. The very slow, disguised reveal at the end is particularly well done, and given the aspect ratio it all feels very claustrophobic. I’m a huge fan of films with no music and (apart from one hit) only diegetic sound. So good! Great execution of the one-shot too. Very nice.

Take it or leave it:
Maybe I should have watched this late at night in a dark room with no one else in the house, ‘cos I just wasn’t scared at all either for me or the lead! I think this had to do with the script (there’s a bit of redundant dialogue – “Sorry to call you so late/Do you know what time it is?”) or the direction of the lead – the swings of panic and calm aren’t really sold or timed well enough. She does a great job at the end – it’s really good - but I didn’t get that she was really that worried up until that point – and shit got real well before that. It's just not sustained one way or another. Either go full scared or blase`, maybe. I get the conversation with the boyfriend; it’s a useful distraction and raises questions about who is to blame in their relationship, which sounds like it’s coming to an end anyway. He’s suspicious of Liam; he mentions a previous lie. He’s dismissive, and sounds fed up. He puts the blame on her, and she weakly tries to defend herself. What’s the commentary here? Bad men, or are we putting it on women? Is she literally hiding from the truth, pretending it will all go away? Her ghosts of the past coming back to haunt her? It all depends on your perspective, I guess!

Final hot air:
Look, this is a really good, solid horror without doing anything new. Alone in the house hearing noises is a very common way to go, but this short is well made, in the shortlist and probably one of the finalists. Well done, rip focus: Tokyo Drift!