Larry is a 5-minute short by writer and director Jacob Chase who, after once running a haunted house for 3 years with a few friends, saw it as an “opportunity to get back into the horror/suspense mindset and try to make people nervous giggle with fright.”
Shot in just one night with a crew of 15 people, it has certainly succeeded at eliciting a good amount of tension. I especially loved that he eschewed CGI for the actual creature and opted instead to utilize a costume from his haunted house days instead. I am a huge fan of more natural monsters — I think CGI creations rarely have the desired effect, which is why the last frame of the short doesn’t do nearly as much for me as the previous ones.
Joe Calarco, the actor who played the fearful but curious parking attendant, conveys such a convincing amount of growing terror blended with some healthy skepticism. There’s just something about him that makes me want to see him in more projects.
But ultimately this short nearly crackles with the electricity of suspense. Throughout basically the entirety of it — and trust me, it makes 5 minutes feel like a lot longer — my mind was just racing with possibilities. Impressively done.
And the greatest news? Amblin Partners (a restructured DreamWorks Studios) has acquired the rights to turn it into a feature film. Hell yeah I’ll be keeping my eye out for that!
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