Wer hat Angst vorm schwarzen Mann

The scariest things about this ultra-low budget short are the opening titles and jarring score that tries far too hard to mimic Wendy Carlos' 'The Shining' score. It does not succeed.

Even as a student film, it's contrived and poorly executed. Framing is off (and not in an 'artistic' way), direction seems scatterbrained (and not in a 'good horror film' way), and the soundtrack seems out of sync in places (enough to draw attention away from the story). The climactic end scene is anything but, and even confusing.

Steer clear of this slow, tired adaptation - it doesn't represent the story well at all - and read King's original composition. The out-of-print VHS (part of the 'Nightshift Collection') is only worth hunting down if you're a serious collector of Stephen King or amateur/student horror attempts.

This one is probably misunderstood by many, because of it's genre. It's short but very powerful story and I can't see any way in which it could have been done better. It perfectly reflects the horror and disturbance in the main characters mind. It doesn't really give you too much of a plot, but because of it's genre it's not what it's supposed to do. The main thing here is psychology and this short delivers that part perfectly. And I guarantee that some words said here will haunt you for some time. I'm a fan of Stephen King and can really see his reflection here, it really reflects his style - madness, disturbance and despair - that's the glorious mix of Mr. Stephen King. Watch it if you have some free time to waste.

This adaptation was made on a limited budget as it is obviously a college project, but despite it, the setting is well done and manages to maintain a sense of suspense and terror. Stephen King's story is summarized in this short film, but they only took the most essential of the plot, without the need to focus as much on Lester's conversation with Harper as on the original story that spends a lot of time to go deeper into the state. Lester's emotional Here the story is shorter and the environment is responsible for transmitting Lester's fear and the panic he suffers. In a certain way, Stephen King managed to capture his vision of the fear of the Boogeyman as something that can terrify adults. Especially when said character becomes a metaphor for the danger that children can suffer in the hands of dangerous people. This really is one of the best short horror films I've seen despite its limited budget and it manages to be scary enough to reflect King's chilling vision. My rating for this movie is 8/10.

Not because it's a college short film, but because:

a) it butchered possibly Stephen King's best short story &

b) as a film alone it doesn't really make any sense

the acting left something to be desired too and I really found the music annoying. The main protagonist (Lester Billings) was interesting but I was unsure if this was a good or bad performance, I want to say good but the direction was bad and the effects were cheesy thus bringing down the actor. Too bad.

Final verdict: Stay away from the film. Read the book.

How this short film has a 4.7 is seriously beyond me. This is a fantastic short! Sure the ending isn't that great, but it stays really close to Stephen King's original short story. I could only find a VHS rip on youtube for this (since I am reading and watching everything Stephen King) and the grainy quality just adds to the eerie tone of the film. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has a interest in either Stephen King's work or the other Dollar Baby adaptations.