Directed by Justin Harding and Rob Brunner
Ah, the fun things that can be discovered in the woods, especially in a horror short! In the co-directing duo of Justin Harding and Rob Brunner’s film, Latched, what lies in the leaves should have been left there.
This quickie follows a recently-single mother (Elmer) as she takes her little 14 month old son deep into the woods to gain a little bit of a mental break at a secluded cottage, and to perfect her dance moves out in the forest, apparently. While on a stroll through the brush one day, her little guy comes across what appears to be a small, dehydrated bat of some sort (boy, I sure wish that were true). In the short’s 16 minute span it comes to pass that this dried out little creature sure as hell isn’t a bat, and it becomes a very large mistake that they came across it in the first place – mistakes, mistakes people – for they are the vicious backbone of any horror production, and we as fans revel in them.
This is a spooky little quickie, and visually the film looks utterly fantastic with its spanned shots of the wide-open coppice and darker-than-night shots. The premise here does involve a bit of “feeding” if you will, and it definitely fuels the fire of the beast – don’t be a boob – give this one a look when it peeks out of the shadows!