Playing In The Closet

Playing In The Closet

Bruce Von Stiers

There are a ton of urban legends. Some of them are silly, others are very scary. Some are absolutely bizarre, and others are quite terrifying.

One such terrifying urban legend is the basis for the micro-short horror film, Play.

There is a little girl who is trying to play a pinball machine. She is having difficulty doing it. Then there is a big ball that comes bounding towards her. It has the word Play written on it.

The little girl doesn't quite know what to think. Where did the ball come from?

Then the film moves to a closet door where, peering out, is a face made up in clown makeup. Who is this?

But is there really something bad that is going to happen to the little girl? An older woman who comes into the room later will find out the answer to that question.

Falina Walsh played the little girl. Linda Emmons played the older woman. Neither of them has any listed screen credits.

Erika A. Sherman played the clown in the closet. She didn't have any lines, but looked both friendly an menacing at the same time. She has appeared in several films and worked behind the scenes as screenwriter and director for a several more. A while back I reviewed her film, Behind Her Makeup.

Sherman also wrote the screenplay. It was based on a story by Antoine Evans. He also directed the film. His previous directing credits include the short mystery film Broken Mirror and the short crime drama Body Shop.

A lot can be said or inferred in a short amount of time. That there is evil lurking, just waiting to snatch a kid up, is discerning. That is what makes Play kind of ominous. That is, evil is implied but not shown onscreen. At the end, we just see what the next step in evilness could be.

Play has all the right building blocks to become a longer, more defined film. In fact, the film could be, like a few other micro-shorts I've viewed, a proof of concept for a longer short film or perhaps developed into a feature film.

As of this writing, Play is available for viewing on YouTube. The link to the film is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRQ8SVeJDYk

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