Heiress
Who really holds the reins as secret agendas and misgivings over
control of the family trust weave a web of deceit?

Families are tricky at the best of times, but throw a fortune into the mix and the fireworks can be quite impressive.

Melissa is a young lady who dons herself in the traditional attire and luxuries that are expected in her position as an heiress. As she steps out of her limo and enters an office building she is taken by an assistant, Joan, to meet her uncle and controller of the family fortune, Thomas. The mood is initially tense upon Melissa’s arrival before uncle Thomas, but then tensions increase as what seemed initially to be a regular shakedown of the family’s fortune takes a different turn.

Joan hands the "WELLINGTON GLOBAL QUARTERLY REPORT" to Melissa as she settles into a chair across from Thomas.

Melissa fans open the report. Joan lingers over her shoulder. Melissa shoots her a suspicious eye.

MELISSA
And you're here, why?

THOMAS
Joan has been extremely helpful these past months.

They hang on her every expression and body movement.

THOMAS
You'll be happy to know the company experienced a four percent increase this quarter.

MELISSA
Last quarter it was over seven.

Thomas perks up with her recollection.

JOAN
Page twenty-three... manufacturing was slow during the post-holiday.

Melissa closes the report. Chooses her words...

MELISSA
I think it's time I take a more active role in the company.

Thomas remains even. Joan is taken by her words.

As the power play between Thomas and Melissa is played out in the open and clear for everyone to see, in the background rests Joan, who also appears to be keeping a keen interest in the family affairs and what money could be going where.

Against the backdrop of the boardroom setting, the piece builds to a crescendo of conflict and back stabbing within the group, and keeps the reader on their toes until we finally arrive and double crosses of those involved are revealed.

With undertones of the family dramas and conflict that has made Succession so successful, Heiress is a great little short that studies the weighting of family and fortune, when set against human greed.

If you’re a film maker who is looking for a dramatic short full of conflict and twists, then this could well be the one for you.

BRANDED
When a drug addict who has committed suicide enters her new 'post mortem' residence, her only objective is to find her baby.

Described as the great beyond, afterlife, or the hereafter, ever wonder what it looks like up there? In Natalie Ekberg's dramatic fantasy, Branded, apparently there's a lot of pink and purple. The gated entrance is "bright pink and glittery, decorated with intricate metal pieces that intertwine each other and create various shapes." A big WELCOME sign hangs over the gate. There's a greeter too, Carmelita.

Carmelita, a humanoid Unicorn, beautiful, pink and sparkling, sits at the gate. Between her forehead and her horn - a police-like cap, with letters ‘HV’ on it.

CARMELITA
Welcome to Happy Valley, your new residence.
I am Carmelita, your Immigration office representative.
Your name, please?

It all seems friendly enough. But contrary to its colorful exterior, Happy Valley has it’s dark side, too. It's a place where atonement comes at a price.

Waiting in line at the gate is a disheveled 28-year-old named Lisa Goodman. Clearly, her previous life on Earth was no picnic. After Carmelita checks Lisa's name off a list, she suddenly pulls up Lisa's jumper. Underneath are "multiple bruises and needle marks."

Carmelita's prepared. Retrieving a branding iron from a drawer, she grabs Lisa's hand and swiftly brands it with an "A" inside a circle.

Lisa snatches her hand away.

LISA
Aaaaw! Are you mad?

CARMELITA
Com’on, love. We both know you’ve been through more pain in your previous...ahm...place...

Carmelita hands Lisa a thick folder.

CARMELITA
Your welcome pack. The antiseptic cream is inside, use as needed.
No painkillers for you. Obviously.
Cottage number 50343. Any questions?

Lisa takes the package and looks around.

LISA
Yeah. Do you do any other colours in here?

Carmelita smiles.

CARMELITA
You ain’t seen nothin yet, sista. Enjoy! Next!

Passing through the gate and into an open meadow, Lisa finds herself surrounded by yet more pink and purple. Pretty quickly, Carmelita’s prediction proves (pardon the dark but sequined pun) dead right. Among the Alice in Wonderland characters Lisa encounters next:

• Drink carrying dragons on pink scooters.
• A Pegasus style horse that provides “taxi service” over purple cottages.
• And not-so cheery Peter, who reveals he expired from a heart attack… after Lisa admits she “used a noose.”

Scratch this glittery fairy tale, and you find real world Hans Christian Anderson Grimness underneath. Adventure, too…

… Because Happy Valley isn’t all cherub angels playing harps in the pink sunshine. Looks can be deceiving – and treacherous. Will Lisa find her baby daughter? If so, what price will she have to pay?

Branded is a visual feast. Guaranteed to get creative juices flowing, it's a perfect fit for a filmmaker eager to put their stamp on a scintillating fantasy; one rich in visuals - and real life pain, all at once!  

Here Comes the Bogeyman
When an evil entity demands that a single mother choose one of her two children for a blood sacrifice, she must find a way to save them both.

He said he’s coming tonight.

Kids say the darnedest thing, don’t they? It’s always unsettling when that darndest thing happens to be something super creepy. Yes, it’s a very familiar horror trope. But it’s a horror trope that never fails to weird me right-the-F-out every time I see it in a film. It just works… if done effectively. And in, Here Comes the Boogeyman, it most certainly works – to very, very creepy effect.

But that’s merely the set-up to writer, Zack Akers’ atmospheric bone-chiller, which centers around another familiar trope in horror films and campfire tales alike – the Bogeyman.

The story opens with single mom, Mary, tucking in her six and eight year-old sons, Tyler and Devin, respectively, to bed. But, for some reason, Tyler and his older brother choose to sleep in the same bed. When asked why, Devin falls to tears, afraid to tell his mother.

“The Bogeyman,” Tyler tells her, speaking up for his older brother.

Like most children have at some point of their adolescence, Devin has been having nightmares about the Bogeyman. Mary comforts the boys, telling them it was just a dream and the Bogeyman isn’t real. Because of course it’s not. But that’s when Devin says that “darndest thing” – “He said he’s coming tonight.”

The comment seems to bother Mary as she talks about it over the phone with her boyfriend, Luke. He tells her there’s nothing to worry about, to which Mary reluctantly agrees – “Yeah, you’re right. I’m probably just overreacting.”

But later in the night, as Mary makes her way to bed, her doorbell rings… followed by four slow knocks at the door. This, indeed, turns out to be the Bogeyman – at least he knocked, right?

In what plays out like a cat-and-mouse home-invasion film, the Bogeyman has one unsettling request – “Give me one… or I’ll take them both.” Refusing to accept the “Sophie’s Choice”-option given to her, she decides to try and fend off the Bogeyman. But she makes some very bad decisions in the process, those moments that make audience members yell, “What the F are you doing?!” at the screen. This ends up resulting in the gruesome demise of the whole family.

Although it sounds like I just spoiled the ending for everyone, I assure you, it’s only just the beginning. And to see exactly what I mean, you’ll have to check it out for yourself. But I will say that it’s at this point that the story takes all these familiar horror tropes and uses them to create something truly unique and original. I especially came away impressed with how our protagonist, Mary, learns from her earlier mistakes (that so many horror characters tend to make). And, yes, I know I said she met her demise. But, again, read it for yourself. It’s soooo worth checking out.

This is the type of film I can see raking in some serious views on Youtube, Vimeo and maybe even Shudder, who I know lists short films from time to time. Atmospheric and suspenseful with some truly terrifying visuals and a gut-punch of an ending, “Here Comes the Bogeyman” is what nightmares are made of.

The Other Side
A young woman and her boyfriend make the innocent mistake of playing on a Ouija Board and find out the hard way that the other side is not to be messed with.

Being home alone, especially at night, can be a little scary sometimes. It’s something we can all relate to, especially now, in our current climate. Even just the slightest noise can make us stop and conjure up the possibility, just for a moment, that maybe we aren’t the only ones there. Is it our minds playing tricks on us? Probably – which is what most of us tell ourselves in order to find comfort. But there’s always the possibility of a home intruder. Or, depending on personal beliefs, maybe something paranormal.

In Kirsten James’s spooky, supernatural horror short, The Other Side, it’s something much, much worse.

After having her boyfriend, Josh, over two nights in a row, Samantha finally has a night to herself. And she’s using her free time wisely – we’re introduced to her as she’s getting in a nice Stair Master workout while rocking out to music. Not a worry in the world…

We then see a messy coffee table, a mess she hasn’t yet cleaned up from the previous night – an empty wine bottle, some candy wrappers, an opened Ouija board, half a bottle of Jack Daniels …

Wait… a Ouija board? Oh, that can’t be good. In fact, specifically in horror films, the presence of a Ouija board is NEVER good. But Samantha doesn’t know she’s in a horror film. Just like in real life, people like to be scared for fun. And, often times, this “fun” comes in the form of a Ouija board – I am DEFINITELY not one of those people.

Right from the jump, unbeknownst to Samantha, there’s a dark, creepy figure just lingering in the shadows. Is it a person? Something worse? We don’t know yet. It could be anything. But it isn’t until a loud grinding noise from the kitchen grabs Samantha’s attention.

She inspects, discovering a planchette stuck in the sink’s garbage disposal. Immediately, perhaps to convince herself nothing is wrong, she suspects her boyfriend, Josh, is messing with her. As she looks around the apartment for Josh, she discovers more things that make her suspect that her hubby is playing a prank on her.

Fed up, she gives him a call – but we see that Josh is clearly at his own place (living with his mother), working on a college assignment. As things continue to go bump in the night, we come to find out that Josh and Samantha, under the influence of alcohol and munchies, may have conjured something up while messing around with that Ouija the previous night.

But there’s a problem – Josh says he wasn’t there the previous night. But… if he wasn’t there last night… who did Samantha have sex with? Did the Ouija board somehow conjure up some demonic doppelganger?

All those questions are answered in what plays out like a chillingly clever mash-up of Paranormal Activity meets Jordan Peele’s Us. Packed with all the things you look for in a horror story, The Other Side is a mind-bending, frightening read and that would translate even better on screen. I highly recommend it to any filmmaker looking to make some noise in the horror film festival circuit.