CREAK & SHRIEK
An eight-year-old boy struggles for answers when his
horror sound effects record starts playing on its own in the middle of the night.
Don’t be scared.
Be terrified.
Today is a very special day. Today is Noah’s 8th birthday.
And while the party may not have gone to plan and Mom’s deep into her evening tipple, Noah’s holding up; distracted by his brand new ‘Scary Sounds of the Night’ sound effects record.
It’s an odd gift, but then Auntie W. is a far cry from normality. She’s the distant kind of aunt that talks to skunks and lives alone in the woods. The kind that always forgets a birthday… until now.
MOM (O.S.)
Gonna give yourself nightmares, kid.
A heart beats on the sound effects record: lub-dub, lub-dub.
Noah's mom stands just out of view in the doorway.
He turns off the record player, letting it groan to a stop.
MOM (O.S.)
I don't know why you'd wanna listen to that.
It's hell's soundtrack.
Howling winds and pounding hearts are one thing, but groaning ghouls prove too much and a spooked Noah calls it a night. Maybe Mom was right; why would anyone want to listen to a soundtrack filled with such horrors?
Better yet, what type of person would send such a gift?
As it turns out, the crazy type with a grudge that lives alone in the woods on a homegrown daisy diet. Scary Sounds of the Night is a recording of an entirely different kind. The kind you can’t just turn off.
The kind that knows your name…
Rob Herzog’s Creak and Shriek delivers a strikingly simple yet effective horror short. Two characters, one room and some well placed sound FX could bring this horror short to the screen with the minimum of budget. Any filmmaker looking to get their hands on a fun Twilight Zone style chiller would be remiss not to check this out.