Peekers (2008)

Filmmakers often rely on short films as a jumping off point before they go on to make longer, feature-length films. Short films allow them to “test the waters” and gain hands-on experience with filmmaking without having to break the bank. For other filmmakers, though, the short film is an art form and much of their careers are spent crafting precise and effective shorts.

I believe that shorts have a very important place in the film business, not just for showcasing what a filmmaker can do or for a filmmaker to gain experience, but as an effective, bite-sized piece of entertainment. When done effectively, short films can pack quite the punch!

Case in point is director Mark Steensland’s (Dead @ 17 and the Beyond the Pale short film collection) short Peekers, based on the story by Kealan Patrick Burke and written by Rick Hautala. This 8-minute film may not be that long, but, boy, did it ever rock the socks off of me! It is a suburban nightmare, beginning with the seemingly mundane task of our main character, Larry Morgan (Mike Lechner), making breakfast. Just as he sits down to eat, he is interrupted by a knock at the door by his neighbor, the elderly Zach (Albert Braun), who pleads with Larry to come check something out at his house. What follows is the creepiest of scenes and a finale that will leave you shaken for days! You’ll never be the same after you hear “Play with me” from one of the characters!

Peekers is an extremely effective short that definitely left me with a case of the heebie jeebies. In addition to its lasting impact, it is also precisely constructed and well-acted. The pacing is perfect, accompanied by a wonderful soundtrack that starts off on a light note before delving into darker territory to mirror the mounting dread of the film. I also have to note that for a short film it has a remarkable high production value to it. Each shot is carefully composed and in no way does it feel like an amateur undertaking like some short films do. Of course, director Mark Steensland has been in the business for quite some time and really excels at creating taut short films (see our reviews of his earlier works above).

I absolutely love the creepy visuals that will cause you to do a double take and give the film its title. There is no violence, blood or gore, but the pervading creepiness of the film will put you off your rocker for sure. The menacing “peekers” are a sight to behold and their pleas to play with them are even more disturbing.

Peekers is a short film that just MUST be seen! In our busy world, short films will soon play an important, bigger role in entertainment. We will be watching them even more on our phones, in between meetings at the office, online and many other places. Peekers is a prime example of what high quality, well-constructed short films SHOULD look like! Mark Steensland continues to treat the short film genre as an art form, not just as the first step on the road to feature filmmaking. In doing so, he has creating a hauntingly memorable short with Peekers!

Visit Mark Steensland’s Official Site!

Dark Corners (2007)

The horror intelligencia out there will no doubt adore Dark Corners. It is a “thinking fan’s” horror film, complete with “through the looking glass” juxtaposed realities, a scary serial killer and an ending that will leave most scratching their heads. Writer/director Ray Gower calls the film a mix of “Lynch, Cronenberg and Craven,” which sums up the atmosphere of Dark Corners nicely.

Susan (Thora Birch) has frequent and realistic nightmares about a woman, named Karen (Birch), who looks exactly like her. Brunette Karen lives in a dirty, post-industrial world where most of the inhabitants take their fashion cues from the gutters of Victorian England. When Karen keeps waking up with mysterious welts, scratches and bruises all over her body, she comes to the conclusion that someone is breaking into her dingy apartment while she sleeps to rape and brutalize her. Susan, on the other hand, is blond and lives with her hottie husband (Christien Anholt) in a sparklingly white, large house. Unlike Karen, Susan is very well off and the only problem she has is that she cannot conceive. As Susan is about to begin fertility treatments, her dreams of Karen become more and more vivid, up to the point where Susan feels like two different people. She goes to see a psychoanalyst (Toby Stephens), who hypnotizes her to get rid of the nightmares. Despite the shrink’s help, Susan’s nightmares return when the Night Stalker (Oliver Price), a serial killer on the loose, shows up in both her nightmares and waking life. What is real and what is imaginary? Is Karen just a figment of Susan’s mind or is Susan a figment of Karen’s?

The most striking elements of Dark Corners are its visuals. The contrasting motif of light and dark is very effective in juxtaposing the Susan and Karen characters and makes for stunning set-pieces. Karen’s dark, sooty, Victorian-inspired environment is bizarre and unsettling. The set design is spectacular, with lots of detail to make her world look old-fashioned, even though it is obviously set in the present. Susan’s white picket fence existence is represented by sun-drenched, light and airy rooms. Everything is bathed in bright, warm light that makes it inviting and comforting. Both Karen and Susan’s worlds are represented by dramatic and lush visuals that add so much to the film’s overall look and feel. All in all, the stark contrast between the two realities give the film its off-kilter, unbalanced and unsettling feeling.

The visuals are the film’s strong point, but the acting is also done well. Thora Birch does a wonderful job playing both Susan and Karen, but she seemed a little unbelievable (and young) to be in Susan’s role as happily married, rich and wanting kids. I enjoyed the black humor employed by Karen’s mortician boss, played creepily by Ray Charleson, Oliver Price as the hulking Night Stalker and Toby Stephens as the charming and intense psychoanalyst. There were a few performances that fell flat, but I thought the rest played well enough for this particular film.

Director Ray Gower definitely knows how to craft excitingly ominous scenes and how to translate the character’s disorientation to the audience, but as a writer he needs a little work. I really enjoyed the original story, but it unfortunately begins to fall apart towards the end. The ending is unbelievable (not in a good way) and comes from seemingly nowhere. It just seems to exist for shock value while failing to tie together the rest of the film. The film has inklings of Lynch’s alternating realities, Cronenberg’s “body horror,” and it speaks Craven’s “stalkerese,” but the story never manages to pull everything together to form a cohesive film.

Yet, if you are looking for a film that is decidedly anti-multiplex fare that will keep you guessing, I highly recommend Dark Corners. It is by no means a perfect film, but its nightmarish atmosphere and different approach to horror drew me in and wouldn’t let go.

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