A version of this film entirely from Edward’s point of view, where we feel his frustration at the constant interruptions of his curious wife, would be far more interesting. If her scheme with the butcher occurred offscreen, that moment could come as a surprise not only to Edward, but to us as well.
Or, there’s a version of this film entirely told through Marie’s eyes. The first half is close to this notion, of only seeing what Edward is up to through the cracks in the doors, but later scenes take us out of that world and open us up to not only Edward’s point of view, but that of whatever the hell is in the basement.
Finally, a terrific version of this could be told entirely through the eyes of the butcher. Imagine the same film starts out with the butcher pining for a married woman, and the oddness he encounters when making his deliveries. When she approaches him with her story of what she’s seen in the house, does he believe her? Do we? And finally, persuaded to go through what he’s going to do, we can be treated to the big twists of the movie through his horrified eyes.
Choosing any one of these perspectives would have helped this short earn its powerful ending, and would have been significantly more entertaining throughout. That said, though, the film never bores and ticks its way through its plot points in an entertaining – although somewhat stale – manner. It’s all about that ending, the film knows it and so does the viewer. But it’s the first two thirds that seem to hold a good film back from being a great one.
Visual Look
Shot primarily on the Canon XL1, the film has occasional moments of soft focus and some composition issues. As previously mentioned, I can’t for the life of me figure out why Marie doesn’t take a step back when Edward yells at her. It’s even framed as though she’s about to, with plenty of empty space to frame right. Short of that, there are some effective and ambitious visual moments. The POV sequences—which were shot with the Sony VX2000— are nicely staged, although the post color effects are a bit distracting.
A nice sequence shot entirely in shadow adds some atmosphere, although just where and why that sequence is staged like that is unexplained. The real treat though, again, is toward the end, where we get some terrific effects that made me grin and think back to the kind of practical wizardly employed by John Carpenter’s “The Thing” among others.
Due probably to a lack of budget, the production design left me a little disappointed in a few areas. The basement set is full of nice shadows and set dressing, but too much of the film takes place in bland, white hallways and rooms. The addition early on of a maroon curtain to the laboratory door distracts, and seems completely unmotivated other than to break up the monotony of the white walls. While it could have benefited from some more art design, the flick levels out after a few minutes and I found myself without complaint by the end.
Like a lot of indies, the film is just slightly over edited. A few jarring cuts (like the ECU removal of a hairpin) and an over reliance on dissolves (as “act breaks” to black, and then during a sequence of Marie exploring the lab) could use another pass. A lot, LOT, of indies fall back too easily on dissolves where they aren’t necessary, and the effect tends to be devastating to the pace. Again, the rhythm evens out around midpoint.
