Nightmare House
By Sharon Foss
The minds behind Nightmare House, an anthology of shorts complied into one non-stop DVD of viewing delight, are called Fewdio. They write and direct short works of art that are sometimes disturbing, sometimes scary, but always “horrorific” for their Web site, www.fewdio.com. They boast a new short every 13 days for their viewers and collected 13 (see a pattern here horror fans?) shorts to produce the first volume of Nightmare House.
According to their Facebook page, Fewdio is composed of seven industry veterans, who have worked as writers, actors and directors on major motion pictures. They’ve decided to strike out on their own, and do what they love… create intelligent horror, in the vein of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
And that’s exactly what it is—intelligent. You won’t find big-busted bimbos being chased by a make believe non-man who refuses to die. You also won’t find over-the-top scenes of inhumane cruelty just so a special effects guy can show off his skills. Here you will find scenes where nothing is accidental. Every word spoken, every prop used and every turn of the head is done for a reason—for the sake of the story.
The DVD opens with a true “short” since it was under two minutes. But it sets the tone for the rest of the DVD and I think it was chosen with intention, and wisely so. A woman drives alone on a dark road. She chats with a friend on her cell phone and continues on her merry way. A streetlight illuminates that she is not alone. Is it a stranger in the car with her, or a creature? Blink and you miss it.
The short ends suddenly and abruptly. This clued me in that my next 90 minutes will be spent watching something that will keep me enthralled from start to finish.
“Door 17”
Ever wonder what went on behind those doors where you pop in a quarter for a live nudey show? I’ve wondered and it’s certainly not what I expected!
“Anniversary”
A woman scorned. Wait until you see it. If you were to mix the pure venom of Alanis Morissette’s anthem against a cheating man with a knife, you’d produce “Anniversary”.
“Breach”
I’d like to say I kept my cool while watching this one, at night, in a big empty house. I think I did okay, if you count gasping and saying (to no one apparently) “What the fuck” is keeping my cool. Then yes, I succeeded. Mission accomplished. Now, where’s my teddy bear?
“The Feed”
Cable isn’t working in one resident’s apartment, but one channel is. It’s a feed from a camera that appears to be looking into an apartment lobby. And the resident sees his dream girl. But it’s not his building’s lobby. Where is it? And why is his dream woman there, in the lobby, night after night? Is she waiting for him to find her? Is she watching him? It keeps you guessing…
“The Easter Bunny” (My favorite)
Kids plus fake creatures of the holiday persuasion equals pure creepiness. This may be my favorite one! Yet another one that I asked myself, loudly, “What the hell was that?” It was short, it was creepy, it was even sweet. It made me second-guess my long ago decision to not celebrate Easter.
(Review by Sharon Foss – Original Post at www.terrortube.com)
