Finding a new workplace during a relocation can be a challenging task. Writer and director Cody MacDonald aims to evoke this emotion in his six-minute horror short Nightcap, as a supernatural force chases Gus (Michael Lake) the night before his life-changing job interview.
Modern horror often finds its audience by dissecting the human condition in an unconventional way. It gives trauma a face, a monster, or an entity to latch onto and, in turn, torment those who struggle to overcome it. That’s the baseline many auteurs like Ari Aster and Jordan Peele have embraced and have thus created narratives that resonate beyond mere scares.
Largely set in a small hotel room, NightCap finds Gus struggling to overcome his inner demons. Despite MacDonald’s attempt to use the aspiring businessman’s anxiety against him and illustrate the pressure on young men to provide for their future families, the practical application of this concept falls short.
Nightcap just isn’t a scary film, period. A shadowy figure, muffled whispers and a few creaking doors, all of which feel quite familiar within this genre. That’s not to say there aren’t attempts at innovation: MoodieBoy’s unique soundtrack, infused by subtle electronic notes dovetail brilliantly with the opening sequence but it’s haphazard strums never mesh well with the tenser moments that come later on.
Lake does what he can, but with limited dialogue and almost no physicality to Gus, he ultimately lacks the screen presence to really drive home the peril he finds himself in. Throwing his stage fright into the mix is a pleasing touch of screenwriting by MacDonald, but it’s not nearly enough for viewers to sympathize with the character. Additionally, the inadequate sound design saps the suspense from each scene.
There’s a lot of untapped potential in Nightcap, a horror short that suffers from a lack of scares and overall originality in its execution.
