The Shed opens with some lovely scene-setting moments: a darkly lit house, a wild wig, an axe… the film doesn’t waste any time introducing itself as a themed horror film, one which encapsulates the sense of a world already in a state of terror. And at its heart there is a very unique performance – a man who is faced with a phone call they’d prefer not to answer.
There are two key elements of The Shed that we love. Firstly is the great use of iconography – which highlights the key fragments of horror and the psychological state of the film’s characters. There are weapons, dark corners, extreme close-ups and weapons. The film is very much enriched through this, as it helps identify the main tone of the film – a sort of psychological gothic tone that is very bitter and direct. The second aspect of this film that is really quite great is the use of the camera: the film encapsulates the space in an intense ‘full tilt’ style – this is to say that the camerawork embraces its form, and forces the camera into particular positions that highlight it’s accented tone… long story short – there’s style to admire.
Perhaps the only flaw of the film is its intimate smallness, which is somewhat a compliment. The film could easily be a feature film that is robust and engrossing – after all, we have a locale, a situational urban horror scenario and a clear sense of a protagonist – all the good ingredients for a feature film. At four minutes, the film is very much a ‘super short’. But it has room and legs to go further. It has a kind of simple ‘classic’ horror film set up for a slasher film. All in all, this is fun stuff and enjoyable!
