‘The Fall’ is a new short film from director Jonathan Glazer (Under Your Skin.) It is a joint partnership between BBC Films and A24 that bring to life the nightmare of falling in your sleep – and adding the ingredients of an angry mob, super creepy masks and a seemingly bottomless pit of despair.
The film itself is only six minutes long but boy does it pack a punch. The fact that it opens with an angry mob attacking one of their own with no context is unsettling enough – but the custom creepy mask that each person seems to be wearing amps up the creep factor that much more. Yelling, shouting and grunting at times they seem to be unraveling and the mental breakdown is being taken out on a man set to be hung. But when the bottom drops out of the platform he doesn’t simply drop to the ground and snap his neck. He falls into a bottomless pit. Any Art Bell fans out there remember Mel’s Hole?
‘The Strangers’ comes to mind while watching this short. Maybe because it invoked some of the same feelings – masked madmen killing for no reason. When they are asked why they are doing this they simply reply, “Because you were home.” Sometimes not knowing why the madness is happening around you is much more terrifying.
Check out the short for yourself below and soak in the uneasy feeling.
Credit: BBC Films / A24
