Starring: Valeska Miller
Director: Benjamin Howdeshell
Rating: Four of Ten Stars
A woman (Miller) awakens to find her husband missing from their bedroom... and a strange shadow creeping about their run-down house.
"Shadow" feels more like a clip from a feature film than a proper short. There's no set-up to speak of and no discernible story line--it starts nowhere and goes nowhere over it's five minute running time. Reading the teaser summary on YouTube only makes it worse, as absolutely nothing mentioned in it appears on-screen... and that summary doesn't answer pressing questions any viewer has while watching--starting with "hasn't that woman ever heard of a light switch?!"
While this is a great little film clip from a technical perspective--it's got great camerawork, great lighting, and fantastic sound-mixing/Foley work--and actress Veleska Miller was so interesting to watch that it I went looking for other things she'd done, this feels more like a demo reel or a bit of film made to raise money for the actual project, but it's not a satisfying thing to watch if you're looking for a horror film.
I don't usually include films that I give low ratings to in the 31 Nights of Halloween selection, but this is a rare exception, because it is such a well-made and well-acted clip, if not an actual short film.
Also creepy. Wish many of these didn't end with the "in your face jump scare" though.
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