“THE CONFINED” (2023) SHORT FILM PROVIDES FEATURE-LENGTH FRIGHTS

I am always a fan of a good, haunted house or building in any horror movie. The place where our protagonists in films like this tend to become a main character all on their own. You wouldn’t expect a building to be part of the main cast, but it happens more than you think. Providing the terrifying, scary, and unexpected scenarios that draw us in as audience members. We want our horror movies to terrify us in a way that it sticks with us like a happy memory, or we pass by a creepy house to shudder with the thought of what we recently saw in a horror movie. Houses themselves are creepy all on their own, but when it comes to an abandoned building or abandoned jail or etc., we tend to get the fear cranked up to 11. The foundation of movies like this always depends on the story, as well as just how creepy venturing into an unknown and possibly unsafe dwelling could do to the main characters.

Recently, I got the chance to enjoy the 5-minute short film “The Confined”. This short film stars Thomas J. O’Brien as Landry, Sabrina Ahmed as Kelly, and Joshua Diolosa. These unsuspecting friends/architects Landry and Kelly decide to meet up with their friend Donnie on the outskirts of an old, abandoned area in order to hear the proposal of using this condemned building for potential condos. Because this building is “screaming money” as Donnie so eagerly describes to his friends, he wants them to use their skills as architects to help him accomplish his vision of what this place could be.

I will also say that setting up the lore of a 5-minute short film seems impossible, the writing of Robert Dibella, Darren Wallach, and the skilled directing of Christopher Picone really just knock it out of the park. The beginning of the movie (before the friends meet up) shows some beautifully shot exteriors of the building with history about it stating:

“In 1946, an abandoned building on the banks of the Hudson River became the site of a grisly execution. Former SS Officer George Gale was given sanction in the United States at the end of WWII. Although that war was over, his was just beginning. In 1975, George Gale and his cult of Neo-Nazi followers were executed by local authorities. For years after, the building remained untouched. Until now…..”

This chilling story that is written above really drew me into this and I was hooked. I love a good urban legend or lore story that jumps out at you as this particular one did to me at the beginning of the short film. Not only was there a great setup at the beginning of the film, but this short film was shot in a way that could put some big-budget films to shame. I am a big fan of angles, the structure of how it is shot and used filters when they are relevant to creating the proper atmosphere. Some big movies tend to overlook the need to not use filters for their films (I am looking at you “Twilight” movies).

Even the pacing of how this story unfolds is done quite well. Granted 5 minutes can go by pretty quickly, but with this short film, it didn’t go by quickly. This is due to the fact the story is compelling and makes you wonder more about what transpired and more of the back story of what happened in the early years of this building. It really is surprising how much this hooked me so quickly. There is a great scene involving a projector that leads to torture and a special box. I don’t like spoiling things in films, especially when it is new or in this case much shorter than the average film.

This is one I would highly recommend checking out. I normally don’t give a star rating but if I was going to give one, I would give it 6 out of 5. I was quite impressed with this. Most short films always come off looking like a student film project that they aren’t super into and have acting in it that makes you cringe. Thankfully this short film has exceeded those expectations that I have with some short films. Even the acting for each character really showed range, as well as how invested each actor was in the project. Their skills really have you at the edge of your set and fully invested within a few moments of them being on screen.

I am always up to trying out something new when it comes to viewing horror. As I have said before that I will always go into viewing a horror movie with the most positive expectations, but short films have definitely burned me in the past with false hope and potentially eye-rolling moments from me. This short film has restored my faith that films of this nature may have more potential than we expect. 

“The Confined” (2023) short film is available on YouTube. Be sure to watch it, like it, subscribe to their channel, and comment on there that you heard about this from us. You can also follow their Facebook page here.

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