Girl in the Basement (2016)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring KT Baldassaro, Scott Tundermann, Kristen Blick
Directed by Jared Skolnick and KT Baldassaro
Director Jared Skolnick states that his short film Girl In The Basement focuses its efforts on the most frightening monster of them all: you – and for the most part, it works on a variety of levels. It’s gory, it’s tough to watch at times, and it shines a very bright light on both the strength of the human resolve, and what happens when that resolve starts to fade into darkness. Let’s jump into the basement and see what we can unearth with this one, shall we?
The story is extremely elementary in nature: we witness a young woman named Susan (Baldassaro) being abducted by a seemingly normal looking gentleman (Ken Birdwell) in the short’s beginning, and after a freak accident in his kitchen, he’s no longer a factor in this abduction and subsequent unlawful confinement…you see, he’s dead. Problem here is that our leading lady is still locked up in his cellar with no means of escape. Oh sure, she makes an attempt – hell, she makes quite a few of them, but each non-successive one usually results in her injuring herself, at the point where she’s becoming incapacitated (and pretty gnarly, visually). Her mind is put through a torturous course of events, and with no one to know what’s become of her detainer upstairs, she’s pretty much on her own, testing her already depleted willpower, and forcing her to do things that she’d never thought possible.
While not entirely as short as some of the films that I’ve been checking out lately (34 minute runtime), it can sludge along in spots, yet the overall hope of Susan’s escape is what keeps you holding on, and with each setback she suffers, it too will grab ahold of your mind as well, making you feel as if you are trapped with her: alone, afraid, and slowly disassociating from reality. Both Skolnick and Baldassaro (who not only acted, but co-directed and wrote) do a fine job with the story’s simplicity, adding layers to deepen its overall presentation – this is a LOT more than just a tormented woman in a dingy basement – it’s a fight for survival against a particular situation, both in reality and the corners of one’s mentality. Outside of a sluggish pace, this one’s a definite watch when it comes your way.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
