Curiosity

A man discovers a morbid world when he decides to investigate the dark web.

A young guy named Kevin (Bishop) is in his bedroom, relaxing, messing about with his phone. He comes across a video that instructs how to access the dark web. Curiosity gets the best of Kevin and he goes to his computer and follows the instructions. To his delight, he finds himself accessing that part of the Internet and proceeds to take advantage of what it offers. However, he soon finds a video where a live inhuman and grotesque auction is taking place. What he sees through the webcam is man (Michael Cooke) tied to a chair inside a room, his head covered by a bag. On the walls are deadly tools of all sorts and he is not alone. A large man (John Cooke) wearing a sort of home-made, sinister-looking mask is announcing the beginning of the event, which involves viewers bidding for the poor man's body parts and choosing which tool the masked man will use.

This short film can be appreciated as a tense horror film and for the messages that it carries.

As a horror film, it is quite a nail-biting experience that could be described as a cross between Hostel and Untraceable. As a horrified Kevin watches helplessly as the victim is being tormented and hurt, the dread is at an extremely high level. His decision to send text messages to the masked man, demanding that he stops only makes things worse as the masked man acknowledges Kevin and it becomes clear that he is now in danger.

The masked man is arguably the one who steals the show. A deranged individual that keeps his identity concealed and clearly takes pride and joy in committing unspeakable acts. He looks into the webcam and speaks enthusiastically with a menacing voice as he presents the macabre event like a game show. In other words, he is the stuff of nightmares and when he takes notice of Kevin, the viewer can feel how terrified he must be. And Emily Frances Ippolito's ominous score makes the whole experience even more petrifying.

Regarding the messages, most evidently, this short points towards cybercrime, how people can utilise the Internet for a variety of illegal activities, particularly the illegal organ trade. On top of that, it also acts a warning, communicating to people that when they are online, they must be cautious, because their personal details can still be hacked and avoiding this can be accomplished by staying away from sinister parts of the Internet such as the dark web.

Overall, this short is certainly one that grabs the viewer's attention, be it as a nail-biting experience about murder or as a warning about cybercrime.