The Rizzle

It's a fairly interesting short,although nothing that will revolutionize the medium. It seems to borrow heavily from The Ring ,in terms of its basic conceit and technical execution. The idea of a common entertainment medium being a conduit for an evil spirt? That was just transfered from a video tape player to a computer. And the sequence where they show a close up of Holly Mooths bare feet as she walks down a darkened hallway to investigate an unknown disturbance behind a closed door? Those who saw the above -mentioned movie will recall Amber Tamblyn doing the exact same thing. But in the end,it's engaging enough,and hey,even if you don't find it so,is 5 minutes of your life really too much to give up?

A girl with a fondness for the old-timey dancing style of the 1920s is looking over a few clips on the subject late one night when she comes across what at first appears to be just another innocuous clip called "The Rizzle" that has no views, no uploader and no information beyond a simple challenge for the viewer to dare to try out a strange manic dance for themselves. More amused than creeped out, she dances the odd lively dance and unwittingly seals her doom! I don't normally care for horror stuff that tries to take modern technology like phones and make it traditionally scary in some way, but this short worked for me because it did successfully combine something new with something very old to create a pretty creepy concept that uses the best of both elements. The ghoulish man in the Rizzle video is just creepy, his joker-like permagrin is a little too wide and his quirky dancing gives the quick Rizzle clip a dark off-kilter edge, and I love how it builds up to the ending with the thunderous tapping steps of something unseen that dances closer and closer to the trapped and terrified girl in the dark hallway. She only wanted to dance like the old times, but she finds herself trapped in monochrome flapping music hell forever until the next unfortunate victim comes along, as the grinning evil shadow thing is now wearing her face... I like the way that even though the girl has a big smile you can still see the terror in her eyes! Short and sweet but nice and eerie and gives a good atmospheric little jolt and the tune sure sticks in your head afterwards, I do believe I could happily Rizzle this dizzle anytime! X

'The Rizzle' is moderately interesting. I think the jump scare is a bit much, but otherwise I very much enjoy the concept. I also just have a problem of imagining other, more inspiring directions the short could have been taken.

We've seen similar ideas play out before, whether in short or full-length form, but this is reasonably well done. I appreciate the way the dancing man (Steven Bishop) is portrayed with effects that echo the video Elena (Holly Rooth) watches. I like the narrative flow of the innocent evening turning a bit more unsettling, leading into the climax. And the denouement, though familiar, is suitably creepy. I was afraid the jump scare was the big thing we were waiting for, and I'd have been very disappointed if so - so, well done on twisting my expectations and coming out on top.

Worth four minutes of your time? Sure, why not.