A Mother Finds Herself Caught In A Fever Dream Of Terror

My favorite style of horror film is that which deals with an eerie, unsettling atmosphere bordering on — or diving headlong into — the surreal, with the filmmakers never fully or easily explaining what is unfolding. Water Horse, a brilliant short film from co-directors Sean Temple and Sarah Wisner, delivers just such an unsettling experience in less than eight minutes.
Water Horse has the elegance of such 1970s horror such as Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971), Burnt Offerings (1976), and The Changeling (1980), but it uses that era of fright fare as a springboard, rather than attempting mere pastiche. The short is absolutely rooted in the current horror climate, as well, with Hereditary (2018) springing to mind as a comparison.

Thank you to reviewer Joseph Perry for this lovely write up which also happened to introduce us to one of our new favorite films, LET’S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH!