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★★★★★
Directed by #HarryCrossman
Written by #AlexTurnbull #HarryCrossman
Starring #RachelLin #JoeSmith
Scuttle is a short horror film directed by Harry Crossman, written by Alex Turnbull and produced by Rhys Williamson. The story takes place in a young woman’s bedroom. As the woman gets ready to drift off into a slumber; the sinister sound of a something creeping and approaching her door begins. Scuttle is under 8 minutes long but is still able to tell a tale that is enjoyable and keeps you on your toes. Turnbull has come up with a super good concept, one that wasn’t trying to be too convoluted like some short films and some horrors can be. Furthermore, Crossman and Williamson have both done an amazing job on making the story come to life and maxing out its scare factor.
Sometimes less is more, and this was definitely the case when it came to things
like sound effects and cinematography in Scuttle. Regarding the sound effects, the isolated sound of loud, rapid tapping was effective. However, later in the film a louder bass sound was added, as was the sound of monstrous wailing. I think this was overkill . I think a silent monster is the more terrifying one, and the wailing sounds didn’t match the quality of the rest of the film. I understand these choices were made to suggest an increase in tension and danger but it risked doing the opposite and making the production seem a bit cheap; the tapping was all that was needed to make an impact. Shots were also better off when simplified. There was one rotating shot and that shot singularly came off as more amateurish than the rest of film.
Aside from these small instances, I loved the production and its solid concept combined with solid directing and editing overshadowed any weak points. Nice visual details provided clues as to who, or what, is at the door and what they want, which shows that Crossman put a lot of attention into producing this film to the best of his ability.
In terms of performance, Rachel Lin plays the only character in Scuttle that is seen and she did the film justice. It is impressive to be able to essentially perform a story on your own, even if it is a 7 minute film, so I give props to Lin.
Scuttle reminded me of another short horror film called Lights Out, which was so good it received funding to be made into a feature length horror film in 2016 and featured Teresa Palmer. There are noticeable similarities with some of the shots and the settings used in both shorts... plus both films are GOOD. Just like Lights Out was seen to have, I think Scuttle has a lot of potential for further development, and if not then Harry Crossman and Alex Turnbull are certainly two creatives that have a lot of potential.
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