No Way Out

A man is trapped in some sort of dark basement, hunted by unseen creatures he cannot escape. I watched this short film without knowing what it was about and, in many ways I end it in precisely the same state. The film is a horror and we join it without any context or story, just the sight of a man escaping a creature in a dark basement somewhere – and from the appearance of him it is clear that he has been doing this for a little while since he is desperate, terrified and bloodied. From here we get some nice dusty tension before the gore starts.

At this point the tension in the film is very well done and the basement has a lot of atmosphere with its well designed storage of old, rusty things creating loads of shadows. The reveal of a creature is well done and the we move to the specific final scene. At this point the film because so gory and graphic that it is hard to watch, but in a good way. The use of sound in creating the final few actions is really important and it is painful to watch and think about, while even closing my eyes and wincing did nothing since the noise was in my ears, constantly reminding me what was going on. It is really well done on this regard but unfortunately the film is only about this – about making the viewer feel uncomfortable and unnerved; there isn't a reason or plot or even really a satisfying conclusion to the short and it is a real shame because it had worked so effectively at what it had done well, that I wanted more from it when it came to this.

AJ Bowen is very good in the lead (only!) role and he convinces with the terror and horror of the situation. Cinematography and set design really get the most from the location and, like I say, it does this stuff very well indeed – I just wish it had used these qualities as a means to an end as opposed to being the all as they were.