Infection

Kafkaesque and wholly unnerving, short film Infection channels the soulless corporate experience of workers through a prism of horror filmmaking. 

Directed by James Kicklighter, the movie stars Chelsea Franklin as Jane - a promising worker whose reputation for exceeding expectations could see her land a promotion if she can impress the new owners with a kickass presentation. However, she is torn between career advancement and being around her boss (Daniel Williams Lopez), whose sickness threatens to infect her too. 

The mise-en-scene of Infection is terrifically nightmarish; it has a corporate America feel with hellish undertones, creating the perfect setting for this story to play out in. Couple this with a macabre sound design, and the atmosphere created for the audience is simply spine-chilling. There are some excellent examples of body horror going on during the 9-minute-long movie, including a particularly harrowing scene where Jane’s mother, who is laid up in hospital, experiences a grisly infection herself. 

Chelsea Franklin puts in a formidable performance in the leading role, excelling when it comes to showcasing her character’s distressed state (such as rebuking a doctor when offered financial aid for her mother, or determinedly coping with the elongated presentation she has to prepare that, to us as the viewer, looks like a bunch of hieroglyphics). Daniel Williams Lopez is also striking as the walking corpse of a boss, whose sacrifices to the ideals of our society have rendered his character ravaged. 

Movies that point the finger at Western corporate values are often compelling to a Western audience. With Infection, we are presented with a similarly bleak and riveting tone to movies like Fight Club, The Matrix, or Parasite, and fans of those films will feel in great company here. Jane’s almost surreal experience in her office job will feel relevant to a lot of people watching, and the horror-genre tropes at play create a masterful connection between your 9-5 and slowly becoming a corporate zombie. 

Having seen short films from James Kicklighter before (such as the wonderful Angel of Anywhere), it came as no surprise that the quality on show here was of a superior standard. The piece would act as an impressive proof of concept for a feature version, but also as a powerful short film exploring compelling themes in a very cinematic way. Aside from perhaps shortchanging the viewer in the running time and the edit, this is a must-see short film for 2026.