Hello again, ghosts and ghouls!  I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to say that a lot lately.  I like it!

Today’s review is a short film.  I say this for a reason, because typically I have a very hard time with shorts.  The length is great; you’re able to take in an entire story in just a few short minutes, as opposed to a two-hour film.  Sometimes, we just don’t have the time to take out of our day to watch an entire feature-length film, and that is where I appreciate shorts…but a lot of the time, they’re underdeveloped, too fast-paced and confusing.

However, in that, there comes a certain level of skill required in order to tell an entire story in just ten minutes the way INTO THE MUD does, and Pablo Pastor (writer, director and producer) does it beautifully.  Somehow, in ten minutes, he’s able to develop an entire story and make it believable, develop characters with personalities that you can relate to, and suddenly the credits roll and you’re sad it’s over.

I will say this: because INTO THE MUD is such a short film, I really don’t want to give anything away because the story develops so quickly.  What I can tell you is that a girl wakes up naked in the woods, and everything’s downhill from there, because she hides a pretty dark secret that her captor knows about.

I won’t lie, I guessed what the secret is in the first minute of the film, but I guess that’s pretty okay, considering the film is really only about eight minutes long in total (not including the credits).  And somehow, within those eight minutes, there is a sense of such dread and disturbance.  I appreciate the ability to make me feel uncomfortable in five minutes flat.  You get some gore, some great music, and a girl you could definitely take home to meet your parents.

I appreciate all that was done in the eight short minutes that this film lasts, because it truly is hard to squeeze that much detail into such a short amount of time, and like I said previously, Pastor does a wonderful job at creeping you out, making you feel sympathetic, and all-around creating an enjoyable story.

With that, I leave with you this piece of advice: if you meet someone with a special gift, potentially one that could kill you, you definitely should not kidnap them.  You should also not take a phone call and stop watching your victim, because she will escape and you will be in worlds of trouble.

Give this one a watch if you’re feeling like you need a little bit of creepiness in your life, but don’t have a ton of time to sit down and watch a feature-length.  I promise you’ll get your horror fix from INTO THE MUD.

https://vimeo.com/165874281

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Taylor Krauss

Taylor has been a horror fan for as long as she can remember, begging her parents to let her see The Exorcist at the tender age of just five years old. Since then, she has developed a lifelong obsession with all things strange, paranormal, and creepy. If you find her doing something other than watching a horror film, she’s probably raging as a dwarf barbarian playing Dungeons and Dragons (obsessively…it’s a problem), quoting Lord of the Rings incessantly, or trying to become Dana Scully.

Latest posts by Taylor Krauss (see all)

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