In these strange and unusual times, creatives have, like everyone else, found themselves stuck in doors without access to their network. Many have taken to social media; using their talents to produce amusing TikTok’s, short sketches, or painting pictures for the rest of the world to see. It is all whimsical, delightful, and incredible to see how creatives and filmmakers are using their homes as a canvass for their art.
Director Rob Savage, however, has proven you do not have to be joyful in these times. You can in fact use your skills to scare the shit out of your audiences.
Reminiscent of found footage movies such as (REC) or The Blair Witch, this short film that is now becoming viral across Twitter, Savage (best known for the award-winning short Dawn of the Deaf,) takes to Zoom to petrify his friends. As he investigates strange noises from his attic, we are left wondering – what could be lurking upstairs?
The film is an incredible example of ingeniously using the tools at your disposal to scare. The use of suspense and timing is really excellent. The video is short but effective, pulling you in so you’ll be perfectly hooked on the events unfolding. In fact, there will be moments where you have to turn your laptop away due to dreaded, toe-curling anticipation.
Plus, there is a lot of humour here – whether it’s the background of some of the Zoom participants or their reactions to the strange noises. That natural element to the film is exactly that. “Their reactions are 100% genuine,” says Savage when speaking about the video which has now gone viral.
“It all started when I found a chocolate bar wrapper on the floor of my house,” he continues to talk about the conception of the horror short. “It definitely hadn’t been there when I left and I’d never bought it.”
If you’re wondering how his poor friends got unwillingly roped into this terrifying work, Savage says that it was their own doing. “My friends started teasing me that there was a man living in the attic who crept around while I slept at night. When we went into lockdown, I knew I needed to check it out. I went up and, thankfully, there was no serial killer!”
There was, however, a killer idea. “I knew how I could scare the bejesus out of my friends. I filmed and edited the horror section of the video. Then made a sneaky transition from live video to the pre-recorded video without my friends noticing…”
Superb scary stuff! You can check out the short over at Savage’s Twitter. We suggest you watch it during the day and definitely not if you live alone…
Rob Savage is a prolific and brilliant filmmaker.
Check out his work here.
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