The Ten Steps

Just became available on February 27. Check it out - the slow build up works very well as others have commented, and you'll feel your pulse pick up. Be warned though that the short is very dark and hard to see in places, even if you watch it in full screen mode. However, this does contribute heavily to the mood as you try to see what is going on in all the darkness. The ending really leaves you thinking, like a ghost story from childhood. Good spooky stuff!

The director is apparently working on a full length feature now. There's enough atmosphere and tight grasp of storytelling here to really look forward to what he'll do next.

Irish short horror movie. A family move into an old house, the parents are out for a meal with the father's boss, the teenage daughter stays at home along with her annoying younger brother. There is an electrical power cut, candle in hand she makes her way down the cellar. And that's it, I'm not saying anything else! I knew nothing about this film, all I will say is that the ending is fantastically creepy and proof that when it comes to genuine horror less often means more. The small cast do a good job, the Nokia mobile 'phones used by some characters do date the film but that's not an issue. I recommend watching this just before bedtime with the lights off, happy nightmares! (It has taken me the same time to write this review as it did to watch the film, I will certainly be watching it again,)

Left alone in her new home to look after her little brother, Katie is generally creeped out by her new home but is coping alright until all the lights go out. She rings her parents who are at a meal that is important to her Dad's career and naturally they are not keen to leave for a problem that she could fix herself. Her Dad directs her down into the cellar and down the ten steps to the bottom, where she will find the fuse box.

The problem with finding something you love and telling people is that it then becomes build up in the minds of the other people before they see it and something that surprised you turns into something that doesn't live up to expectations for them. I did it with the short French Doors and I suspect that The Ten Steps has the risk of being the same because, although it is chilling and effective, it is almost certainly not brilliant and praising it too much risks building expectations that it can't meet. So I have a problem then, because I did think it was really good but hyping it further will only produce a sense of anti-climax when the expectant viewer reaches the low-key ending. The whole film is atmosphere because there are no real jump-scares and fortunately it does this well. The direction makes good use of the haunted house and sets up a tension that heightens the whole way down the stairs. The main complaint I would have in this regard was that the restaurant scenes were too bright and colourful and jarred with the dark stairs – a more subdued setting would have helped and I'm not saying that the restaurant needed to be as eerie.

Jill Harding's Katie really helps the atmosphere as well. Considering her face is all we can see for a lot of the film, it was important that she be convincingly frightened – and she is. The actors playing her parents are a lot less convincing; her "father" in particular didn't convince as he sent her into somewhere she was scared of just so he could impress his boss. However these are all minor problems because the atmosphere does work and it is quite chilling in a low-key sort of way. Don't expect too much and you'll probably be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

If film making is an analogy for food then horror movies are the ready meals you stick into a microwave . This probably explains why horror isn't all that well regarded in the cinematic world because any idiot can make a horror movie , all you have to do is stick someone in a remote location and if it's a dark location all the better , have some creepy sounds in the background that will have both the protagonists and audience gasping " what was that ? " and if that's not enough have some scary music . See any idiot can supposedly make a horror movie so why do most directors and screenwriters in the genre come up with movies that clichéd , stupid and most of all not scary in the slightest ?

THE TEN STEPS by writer/director Bredan Muldowney contains every single cliché you have ever seen in every single horror movie . It's set in a remote country house where Katie a young teenager is babysitting on her younger brother Stephen because her parents are networking the father's new boss . There's scenes set in the dark with a mood enhancing soundtrack but within one minute of the running time I'd already jumped out of my skin and as Stephen McKeon's musical score increased the tension I felt my heart beat increase until the shock ending when my jaw hit the floor

I can not praise this short film enough . BBC 2 are having a series of short films on The learning Zone slot and this is the best one they've shown . In fact this is almost certainly the most memorable short film I have ever seen in my entire life . It's brilliantly effective and isn't it obscene that absolute garbage like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and THE EXORCIST are hyped while no one has ever heard of THE TEN STEPS ? If I have any criticism it's that this is maybe too effective and I will have a problem sleeping , but apart from that I salute you Brendan Muldowney and I hope that your obvious talent leads to the rewards you deserve

I watched this court-métrage in class today and I expected it to be a boring gentle story like what teachers usually choose but I found it thrilling and creepy.

The end just made me wonder « Why is she doing that ? »\ « What made her do that ? »\ What happened ? » I recommend it if you have a little time in the afternoon or even better...at night .

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