Dark Film Review: Agatha (2016)
Review written by Casey Douglass
Much as short stories
strive to tell something interesting in a shorter period than a
novel, the task of creating a short film sees the luxury of time
thrown out of the window and the creator having to effectively
condense key information and emotion into minutes rather than hours.
Horror writer and director Timothy Vandenburg has managed to do just
this with his 8 minute short horror film Agatha, which debuted
at Screamfest a few months ago. I was kindly given the chance to
watch it myself, and you can find my thoughts about the film below.
The film description is
as follows:
The orphan train comes daily, spilling hundreds of children onto the streets of Pennsylvania in the late 1800’s. Desperate and alone, the penniless 7 year old Sophie, entrusts an older woman who hires her to bring food each night to someone living in her attic. There is just one rule: Do not pass the serving table….EVER. As time passes, the child’s curiosity grows bold; drawing her closer to discovering the truth behind the prisoner.
The first thing that
impressed me with Agatha was the soundtrack. Horror films
often have soundtracks that appeal to me, and this is probably the
reason why, alongside heavy metal, the dark ambient genre is a staple
of mine. The opening screens of Agatha feature some truly
ominous swells of dark sound design, the kind that actually deepens
the scene rather than sounding like something ill-fitting and
superfluous. While I’m on the topic of sound in general, Agatha
has a genuinely succulent sound-scheme, creaking stairs and toothy
crunching sounds all adding heft to the events unfolding in the
narrative. There is also some ungodly singing, which is genuinely
very creepy.
There is little
dialogue in Agatha, and what there is comes quickly after the
film’s start as Sophie is questioned, and then lectured, by the
woman who is about to employ her. The job is to carry food to the
room at the top of the stairs, place it on the table, and leave. This
is where the rules are laid down: The order not to speak, not to make
a sound, and not to pass the serving table. I’ll admit I had mental
visions of the rules being laid down in Gremlins at this
point, but only because that is such a “go to” film when you
might think about rules and cinema. It definitely left me curious to
see what might happen if the rules were broken. A plate of meat is
duly placed in Sophie’s hand and her journey to the top of the
house begins, accompanied by the aforementioned lovely creaking
stairs. When she enters the top room, a wheezing figure is seen
laying on a bed behind the serving table, the one that must not be
passed. Sophie leaves the food and exits the room, and it is after this
that we see that the figure is chained. To say much more would tempt
the gods of spoilerville, but suffice it to say that it’s a chore
that she carries out again and again, until the film reaches its grim
conclusion.
Any gaps in the
narrative left by the absence of speech are artfully filled by visual
storytelling cues that linger in shot at various intervals in the
film. While being a short film no doubt increases the necessity for
this kind of storytelling, it is used in Agatha to inform,
hint at time passing and provide emotional flavour to the film’s
conclusion. It also leaves some questions unanswered, leaving you
wondering why this is all happening and who these people really are.
Agatha also managed to subvert my expectations on a couple of
occasions which also left me appreciating the direction that it had
taken.
Agatha is now
beginning its fest journey, and efforts are also afoot to turn it in
a feature length film. If the feature length version is any bit as
interesting and well designed as the short, I very much look forward
to seeing it, and I recommend that anyone who finds themselves with
the chance to view Agatha in the coming months to take it, it
is 8 minutes well spent. I give Agatha 5/5.
Fangoria was
exclusively given the trailer for Agatha which is something
you can watch from their YouTube channel below:
