SHORT: 8 minutes of Horror

D

DexKen

New member
This horror film is around 8 minutes long and it is my first attempt with a short horror film. The story takes place inside of a mysterious house. The main character faces challenges of disappearing light, asthma (difficulty breathing underground), and horrid creatures lurking the halls.

I welcome any feedback-negative or positive. :)



Thank you




http://youtu.be/TYuFhku7K7g
 
Data point: I lasted to about the 3:55 mark. The problem for me was inability to get involved. The setting (at least as long as I watched) , some kind of building site, was ultra boring - I mean, it was not especially isolated (we saw a bunch of buildings), nor did it have any foreboding or dark mood to it, it was just a boring setting. Nothing made sense. First she's struggling, then suddenly she finds a blade(!) while tied up - the rope itself was some kind of boring looking string. Scenes are too long given the inherent interest in the activity - you might watch a 10 minute fight sequence, but not 10 minutes of someone sleeping... you gotta match interest and length. The title sequence was too long for a short film and not justified by the content. She's struggling, we see her hands, but it's the same lame twitching going on and on and on and on and on and on and on, and cuts to the blade and back and cuts to the blade and back and so forth - my eyes were glazing over. Then she runs into some kind of excavator machine... why? And there's a guy there... and then he's killed, but we don't care because we've established no rapport with him and so it feels like nothing to have him disappear - as meaningless as when he appeared seconds ago. Then she runs toward some building, and shaky camera and dark and sounds and more dark and shaky camera and something... and I gave up. That's about as much energy as I could muster up.

Basic problem: uninvolving. Tighten up everything to match the length of scenes to interest. Bonus: if it makes some kind of sense, instead of having the audience constantly have the reaction of - wut? eh... wut?... eh... wut?

Good start, but needs more work. The most important thing - film something. You did that - which is huge. Now you need to improve it. Good luck!
 
Thanks for your feedback. I really appreciate it. Can I ask you what short horror films do you think are well done (in your opinion)? Which horror films get your attention?
 
I can't think off the top of my head of short horror films, but tons of horror films work for me - Audition, Ringu, Hostel (first), Saw (first), Wolf Creek... these are more visceral. But there are others which are more subtle, for example a fantastic low budget horror is Pontypool. Or classics, such as the whole Living Dead series (especially Night and Dawn), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original one), The Thing (the Carpenter one), Scanners, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (original), Rosemary's Baby, Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Shining, Exorcist, or a more psychological ones like Repulsion or The Tenant or Dead Ringers or The Vanishing (original) or Let The Right One In (original) or Don't Look Now. Really a million of them - as long as they're well done, in every genre and sub-genre. Big budget or small, doesn't matter - though I kinda prefer the smaller budget ones, because they're more creative and have better moods a lot of the time. I think it's been getting a bit harder for the genre, because so much has already been explored, so it's harder to come up with something original... I mean, I don't mind seeing another zombie movie, but it's gotta really be different for it to grab me anymore, because I've seen so many it just gets boring (a good one that's not too old is Pontypool). I still totally believe it's possible to do ultralow budget horror and have it come out great... I'm planning on one myself :)... including the old standby of 90% happening in one apartment (but I'll try to make it a bit original!).

Again, I don't want to be discouraging - I give you a LOT of credit for shooting something... most people talk, but never do. You did. Now all you gotta do, is keep improving. Seriously, best of luck!
 
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