For Old Times Sake

A woman returns to the home of her recently deceased parents and is greeted by the malicious boogeyman that haunted her childhood and frankly, he's seen better days! Although decrepit and withered in appearance, he still wickedly taunts and attempts to psychologically break her down to the level of a child again, only the thing is he's actually a part of her as he was born of her fears, and he needs her to exist. Pretty great performances from both actors and there's a strange and very engaging interplay between the two as there's something rather pathetic about a powerless boogeymen and he's almost pitiful at points in his cruel attempts to open her old wounds of painful memories and pray upon her fragile mental state, he's so desperate to get her to be scared of him that he almost seems like a junkie trying to get a fix, and she's very effective too as she's burdened with guilt over her parents that she couldn't be there for after fleeing her bad memories years before, and her deep-rooted emotional traumas make it hard for her to completely stand up to and banish her wizened old personal demon as he clings to her mind, it's like she's facing a dark part of herself that will never go away until she is able to let go of all her pain and sadness. I loved the design of the creature, he was subtlety done, he was like a cross between the new Pennywise and the Djinn from Wishmaster, and there's a creepy hint at a double meaning in the final line that ends it on a more deeply disturbing note... Absolutely terrific, powerfully done horror short, performance and atmospherically driven, eerie and thought provoking, and all in all it goes together to make one of the most beautifully effective short horror films I've ever seen, and it doesn't even rely on any jump-scares or bloodshed to draw you in! If our fears are really a part of us than do we need them and should we even learn to trust them on some level in the dark recesses of our minds? Shut all your dusty old doors and lock them tight, lest something forgotten come home to call on you one day...

The basic virtue of this short horror is to remind old fears of each viewer. Closed doors, protective pets, monsters. And the return representing the new beginning. A film about a terrible and profound confrontation. Or , just a new level of a never ending war. Inspired crafted, great dialogue and performances, a lot of meanings. And the not so surprising end.