This was a short film that I received as a screener from the co-writer/director, Stephanie Izsak. What is wild is that this made its World Premiere at Nightmares Film Festival. I didn't get the chance to see it there due to not being able to see everything. I tend to see the feature films and the shorts are shown at the same time. I still wanted to watch this since Stephanie was great to send this over to me.
Synopsis: An isolated young woman recovering from her past begins to experience sleep paralysis and must decide whether the phenomena is simply a part of her healing process - or if something otherworldly is waiting in the dark...
We are following Kate Fumero (Morgan Taylor Campbell). Her spouse, Chris (Bennett Taylor), passed away so she's dealing with that grief. She goes to a support group for help, where a lady approaches her afterwards. Kate is commended for her story and how she deals with things. This is a struggle for her and she's doing what she can to keep it together.
Things take a turn for her where she now deals with sleep paralysis as the synopsis says. She also might be seeing this entity that manifests as a wolf with glowing red eyes. She does research to help her make sense of what she is going through. She even sees a doctor for his help. He glosses over what she says though and just prescribes her medication.
What Kate then tries to figure out is if there is a medical explanation as to what is happening to her or could there be a supernatural reasoning. She thinks that it could be the love of her life, reaching out from beyond the grave.
Now that is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is commending not only Izsak for the story that she crafted here, but I'll also credit the team behind the camera for capturing that dreamlike atmosphere that borders into nightmare. Also, Campbell for getting me to care about her in such little time. Seeing what she goes through at night terrifies me, so there is that as well.
Where I'll then go would be delving more into the story. Since this is a short, I tend to judge on whether this tells a complete story or do I think there is more that needs to be fleshed out. I believe this is the former in that it seems to tell a complete tale. It also could use more to help just develop things further. I think that you could explore what she is going through. As it is though, I think it is complete.
Then to explore more of that story, I can connect with Kate in the idea that if something happened to my wife, Jaime, I'd be lost. She has become my best friend in our time getting to know each other. Now that we have a child, with one on the way, I'd have to keep going for them. I more than likely would become more of a hermit than I already am, if I'm honest. Kate and Chris didn't have children, but when you meet that person that you are going to spend the rest of your life with, then something happens to them, it is devastating. We see Kate trying to do what she can to cope and move on, but this leads her to the supernatural. There are tarot cards and a pagan religion explanation to what she is going through, potentially. I enjoyed what they did here.
I've also touched on that Campbell was great here. I firmly believe that. How the character was written only takes you so far,. I do like what they do with Taylor as this specter and then how things play out there late in this short. Other than that, the rest of the cast push Kate to where she ends up.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I've already said as well that I thought the team behind the camera were able to capture that dreamlike feel. That works, especially when we see that Kate is dealing with insomnia and sleep paralysis. I've experienced fatigue like this and it helps make you question what you're seeing. Capturing that with cinematography and framing was good. There are effects here and how they're used are good. It is limited so credit there. I also thought that the sound design fit what was needed along with the music.
In conclusion, I'm glad that I gave this short a watch. It has an interesting premise that works thanks to the performance of our lead. Campbell was great there and the rest of the cast were solid to push her to where she ended up. This was well-made with the cinematography and framing leading the way there. I'm glad to see that this told a complete story in my opinion. This is light on the horror elements while still being in the genre. This is a short film that I'd recommend to horror fans or to non-horror fans as well.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
