Friday, October 9, 2020

31 Nights of Halloween: Observer

Observer (2017)
Starring: Marcella Raya
Director: Azron Shai
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A young fashion designer (Raya) is bedeviled by a haunted rocking chair.


"Observer" is more of a vignette than an actual short film. In fact, if you go to its YouTube page instead of just watching it from this post, you will find that writer/director Azron Shai explains the haunted chair's back story and how it ended up in ... none of which is evident from anything you'll see on screen. 

It's an interesting back story, and it would have earned the film a higher rating if it had actually made it into the film. Everything about this is very well done--the framing of the scenes and the cinematography in general, the lighting, the sound design are all top notch--and to see just a little bit of story on the screen would have made this an excellent little film. (I could quibble with Zara's reaction when she is awakened in the middle of the night, but I'm just as happy watching Marcella Raya walk around in her underwear while seeming troubled.)

All jokes aside, this is a well-crafted, spooky film that's worth watching. 


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