A few months ago I did a Horror trailer deep dive on YouTube. Through the algorithm I came upon a teaser for a brand new short called PATHOSIS. The teaser was 45 seconds long, and that was more than enough time to grab my attention. From that point on, I knew I had to watch this short film for myself. My only question was: how scary is this going to be? Because that preview alone sent chills down my spine. Last year I was given the opportunity to watch it early. The only regret I have was watching it before bedtime.
PATHOSIS is an original short from Womp Stomp films. If the name of that production company sounds familiar, it's because they're responsible for the Friday the 13th fan films: "Never Hike Alone" and "Never Hike in the Snow." In PATHOSIS we follow Sam (Luciana Faulhaber), a young woman who suffers from a mental disorder. We see her struggle between fighting her disease and the troublesome side effects of her medication. Now as far as the story goes, that's all you really need to know. If explain it any further I'll run the risk of spoiling it for you, and that's the last thing I wanna do.
I LOVED this short so much. I was excited going into it, and it more than exceeded my expectations. PATHOSIS looks and feels professionally made. It's well acted, well directed and the sound design is incredible. Austin Ponang is the writer and director of this movie. Austin and the rest of the crew did a terrific job making this. The character dialog in PATHOSIS feels natural, and the film itself is well shot and paced to perfection. What works best in the movie is the sound design. To put this into perspective: I watched the movie on my computer with headphones to immerse myself in the experience. That only intensified the horror, and if you've seen any of the trailers, you know exactly what to expect.
The music is chilling, and the film's entire vibe had me on the edge of my seat. No joke: I was on edge from the very beginning, up until the credits began to roll. This film was very scary to me. Listening to it with headphones at full blast made it even scarier. When the horror element revealed itself, I had goosebumps running through my entire body. At one point during viewing I did a double take and looked behind me, to make sure no one was there to make me jump. I've been watching horror films my entire life; So to have something like this scare the living daylights out me is a testimate to the brilliant work from the cast and crew.
The biggest standout for me was the film's star: Luciana Faulhaber. She's no stranger to the genre, and she's an excellent filmmaker in her own right. In PATHOSIS, Luciana proves that she has what it takes to tell a good story, just by showing emotion. She has this natural way of acting without ever needing to talk. Her face says it all, and you really feel for her character when she's in fear of what would happen. You feel for her character right away, and you're rooting for her till the very end.
With all that said, I loved every single second of this film. Some of the shorts I've reviewed in the past went on to become full length features. If there are any plans for this to become a full movie, I would put my own money into seeing this get crowdfunded, because I enjoyed the short very much. Speaking of crowdfunding: Those of you who backed this project, please pay yourselves on the back. You guys picked a terrific project to support. PATHOSIS is a short film that every horror fan needs to see. Now keep in mind, this is just my opinion. My taste in horror movies might be different from yours. So take my level of positivity with a grain of salt. I highly recommend watching it with an open mind and judging it for yourself. Don't let my review get in the way of your experience.
