The Friday Horror Short, Who's There?

BLOT: (13 Dec 2013 - 06:51:10 PM)

The Friday Horror Short, Who's There?

I've been thinking about doing some sort of semi-/regular feature on my blog for a bit now, a look at the many short horror films I watch and enjoy, and figured I'd start with one I saw today on dreadit: Who's There?. The premise is simple, a boy is neglected by his stressed-by-life mother, and so, as kids do, starts making noise to let off frustration and to get a little bit of attention, bouncing a ball and knocking against a wall. Then the walls start knocking back...

Even though "Who's There?" is only 4m11s long, it has a fair amount of implied story and balances the tension throughout. I'm not a huge fan of built-in antagonisms—where horror movies have people start in a state of distress or conflict to create a sort of ersatz unease—but as a short it makes sense. The only real stumble is showing too much, at the point where the emotions needed a stronger rein. Discretion is the better part of horror, and you can edit out the parts from about 3:27 through about 3:33 without hurting the film at all.

Even with that a-bit-too-much, it hits pretty much all the notes it needs, scores some bonus points for being nearly an allegory about dealing with the remains of a broken family, and the kid is perfect as someone just quietly coping, with a face that is both interested in his surroundings yet disaffected at the same time. Kudos to him.

Who's There? from Dariel Hernandez on Vimeo.

Written, directed, and produced by Dariel Hernadez. Starring Kate McCay as Mother and Matt Munoz as Devin (the child). More information at the link, above.

The Friday Horror Short