Plot: In 1942, a man is forced to feed a vampiric creature while facing mental and physical abused.
The vampire folklore has been there for prevalent for centuries and every culture has tales of these evil beings thriving on flesh and blood. The tales were fascinating enough for horror writers to create stories based on them.
Over the past few years, we have seen an abundance of vampire movies and TV shows and while they were remarkably entertaining, they also portrayed vampires as more humans than demons.
The vampires we saw in movies, were charming, heroic, and anguished. They were also desperately romantic and had many young women vie for their attention.
The vampires in turn, were ready to give up feeding for the one they loved. They were romanticized and over time, vampires were no longer seen as deadly creatures of the night.
The elements that made them horrific and the basis of every nightmarish horror tales was erased. The creatures, instead, became characters in sensuous movies.
And so it is refreshing to see vampiric creatures once again reclaimed as evil beings in the horror short FAMILIAR.
The movie portrays vampiric creatures for what they truly are and the short wastes no time in establishing that they can also be extremely abusive.
FAMILIAR is a well-written movie which draws you in and makes you sympathize with the character who has been tasked with fulfilling every one of his master’s whims.
It’s a movie that expertly combines abominable elements such as abuse, murder and possible kidnapping.
There are hardly any dialogues and it is up to the actor to portray the story through expressions. This ten minute movie is sure to shake you to the core.
FAMILIAR Plot
The year is 1942.
In Blackwell, Pennsylvania, a house stands in the middle of nowhere.
A man puts on a record and sits on the bed. The music is supposed to drown out the sounds of a woman screaming for help.
The man then stands in front of a mirror, reflecting on the person he has become and the life he must now live. His face is etched in guilt and pain. But there is no walking away from this life.
He sets about on his daily task of ironing his clothes, and then bringing in a woman for his master. He gently places the woman on the floor of the basement and then rushes to his room.
Even the music cannot soothe his trembling guilt as he hears the woman scream for help. He tries to cover his ears but he is cursed to hear everything that is happening because he sent the woman to her death.
The door opens and he cowers in fear as he is told to get ‘another’. Later, he stands in front of the mirror again. This time there are wounds, suggesting he has been assaulted.
He spits out blood and looks at his reflection once again in disgust. When he goes down to the basement, he finds the woman dead. There is a large wound on the side of her neck from where the creature had fed.
The man decides to stand up for himself.
When the creature demands ‘another’, he stands his ground, then enters his bedroom and locks the door. He waits for the creature to go away but it is right behind him.
This is our first glimpse of the creature and it is every bit terrifying mostly because we know what he is capable of.
The movie ends.
Does the man survive another assault? Will he finally stand up for himself?
FAMILIAR is terrifying, immersive and a welcome addition to the horror genre.
The movie can be watched on the ALTER Youtube channel.
Trivia
Familiar was a modern take on the old silent movies of the 1920’s and apart from the very beginning and end
has no dialogue.
It was shot over five days on studio sets with some additional shooting in an old Victorian bathhouse for the
cellar and bathroom.
The film's sound design was done by the director and the composer after a few failed attempts from other post houses
we decided to take matters into our own hands and won several sound design awards.
The VFX were provided by Demitris Robinson who works on high profile Disney movies.
Scare Scale: 4.5/5
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