Fantasia 2018: A/S/L
Our main predator.
This eight-minute short film played before The Dark, with which it shares some surface similarities, which I won’t get into because spoilers.
We begin on a man sitting at his computer, chatting with a seemingly underage girl. Obviously, he’s a predator. Easily, he makes plans to meet up with her at her place. Pretty heavy set-up. Once the predator gets to the girl’s house, however, the tone shifts a bit and we’re obviously not meant to take what’s happening all that seriously (in that respect, it has more in common with The Ranger than it does with The Dark), as the film uses familiar horror movie language but in a more playful manner. Anybody who’s seen a few genre films will recognize the deliberate lighting, camera movements and performances that are meant to evoke more of a sense of familiar fun than actual scares. We know something unnatural is going to happen, even though the predator doesn’t (but painfully should).
Without spoiling the climax, it didn’t really surprise me. Again, once you’ve seen enough horror films (and shorts), you tend to see things coming. The direction and lighting is really well-handled. The performances are also excellent, with the younger performers coming across perfectly for what they are going for. For a short film, it gives horror fans what is expected on a surface level, i.e. the ingredients are there. Should the idea be somehow developed into a longer story, there could be something with a bit more substance to offer.
Dig this nice one-sheet.
