Fun fact about me: I have ADHD! Females tend to be diagnosed a lot later than males, if they are even diagnosed at all, and the same goes for me. Random I know, but I promise it has something to do with my blog. My point is: I have a lot of trouble sitting still for long amounts of time and focusing on one thing. Now that I’m officially diagnosed, I have medicine that helps, but before that (aka most of my life) it was difficult to really pay attention to movies. That kind of made horror movies lackluster for me. I couldn’t focus long enough to be taken into the world and really get my blood pumping. I found the perfect adrenaline rush in perfect sized chunks so I could pay attention easier: YouTube Short Films.
I have watched so many horror short films in my life. I’ll be honest: they range from cheap messes to amazingly disturbing masterpieces. For this week’s blog, I decided to go back into the depths of YouTube and review one. “Curve” by Tim Egan caught my eye. The thumbnail was just a woman sitting on a curved wall. That seemed weird, so I wanted to see what it was about. The description said, “Clinging to a smooth, curved surface high above a sentient abyss, a girl tries to cover the few feet back to safety without losing purchase and falling to her death.” That was interesting enough.
The thing about short horror films is their description is pretty accurate. Most of the time, it tells you exactly what happens. The art of horror short films is more about the atmosphere you can create in a short amount of time. The entire video is under 10 minutes, and that includes credits. This particular film didn’t have any talking. Just you, heavy breathing, eerie music, and strange sounds coming from the abyss below.
You may think: What is so special about that? “Curve” actually had my heart racing and me jumping at certain points. Which is kind of stupid, since I knew basically what was going to happen. It was the filmography of the thing that made it affect me so much.
Knowing how to affect an audience takes skill. In other genres, you don’t necessarily need to affect their bodies while they are watching it. They are mostly to entertain. Horror is one of the few genres that should be a bit physical. I don’t see the point of watching something that is supposed to be scary if it doesn’t get your adrenaline pumping. There are a few ways you can do that: music, ambient sound, colors, shape, etc. Full-length films tend to have these things, but they can get overshadowed by all the other stuff going on or get boring.
There wasn’t even any talking in this film. Yet, you can still tell what the character is thinking, either by deducing it or living vicariously through her. That is the sign of a good actor. I have experience in theater and one thing that almost all my directors have drilled into us is showing the thought process. You don’t just do something because the script tells you to. You do something because it makes sense for your character to do and your character came up with the idea. I definitely sensed that in this film.
All in all, go watch this. It’s short and chances are you will be trying something new. It’s hard to have strong feelings about something so short, but it’s still cool to appreciate it.