I’m Scared (Short, 2017)
Jonathan Barkan
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Starring Gunnar Sizemore
Directed by Peter Levin
The artwork of Greg “Craola” Simkins is simply magnificent, no two ways around it. It’s wildly imaginative, delightfully surreal, and packed with vivid colors that give every image depth and majesty. It’s the kind of artwork that has wide appeal while being unique unto itself.
I’m not surprising anyone when I say that many filmmakers use art throughout history as the influence for their own visions. For example, the work of Hieronymus Bosch has been used as the basis for all sorts of ghastly cinematic images. So it comes as no surprise that someone would see Simkins’ work and decide to make a film based around those visuals.
Enter Director Pete Levin, who just released a new short titled I’m Scared, which was produced by Levin, Dan Levy, James Ingram. Based on the art of Simkins, the stop-motion short is essentially a child’s rhyming story come to life. Two siblings awake during the night and the older relays to the younger all the things that scare him or give him pause. As he describes them, they come to life in the bedroom, looming over the kids in grisly yet charming detail.
As the older brother’s story continues, the amount of villainous entities that seem to haunt him only grow, as though he is afraid of nearly everything, from sharks to robots to bullies to tigers and more. The variety of creatures and the gorgeous ways they’ve been brought to life absolutely delighted both my inner child and my adult horror-appreciating self. And I would be remiss if I were to neglect mentioning the wonderful narration by Gunnar Sizemore. It’s the kind of performance that every feature hopes to get from a child yet rarely does.
Apparently, I’m Scared took three years to complete, which seems excessive at first but becomes all too apparent when you see the level of detail that went into every single frame of this 5-minute offering. From the lighting to the bedspread to the toys on the ground to the levels of detail on every character, there isn’t a single item in this short that isn’t crafted with love and care.
I’m Scared is the kind of horror short that parents shouldn’t be afraid to show their children. Rather, it’s an affirmation that although there may be scary things that go bump in the night, there’s always someone or something there that will have your back.
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Film
