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Short Film Review: Promise Me (2018) by Hakim Hasnan

After being woken in the middle of the night by a possible intruder, a couple searches to find the house empty. This incident leads to them to reflect on their space and the items that occupy it. It is through these examinations that the husband comes to a horrible realization

” is a short film told through text with background images and some atmospheric music and noises playing over top. The images are shot in black-and-white and appear to take place during night, where the incident would have taken place. Presentation-wise, I did enjoy the dark style which forces the eyes to wander across the screen and the atmosphere created by the music was well done. The text is a bit more difficult to read. A change in colour choice and style would have improved the visual presentation. This, along with a better way to define which party is speaking, even a subtle colour change between the two, would have improved the clarity of the short films' narrative.

The story itself will feel familiar to those who enjoy “Creepy Pasta”, the online equivalent of modern day ghost stories told online. In the brief two and a bit minutes, Hakim Hasan is able to hash out an interesting concept. However, this concept does lack the instant shock value that most horror shorts contain, and I found myself having to re-watch to fully understand the horror within the final statement. The twist ending to this short does require the audience to draw their own conclusions, and set their own background in order to view this as a horror story.

With a brief run-time, it is hard to be overly critical of the work presented. I really dug the sound design and did appreciate the overall concept. However, the content is too limited and the delivery a bit flat to put it up among some of the best known short horror stories floating out there. But for those who love mini horror, they would do well to give the short film a shot, which has been linked below, and decide for themselves.

About the author

Adam Symchuk

Adam Symchuk is a Canadian born freelance writer and editor who has been writing for Asian Movie Pulse since 2018. He is currently focused on covering manga, manhwa and light novels having reviewed hundreds of titles in the past two years.

His love of film came from horror and exploitation films from Japan that he devoured in his teens. His love of comics came from falling in love with the works of Shuzo Oshimi, Junji Ito, Hideshi Hino, and Inio Asano but has expanded to a general love of the medium and all its genres.

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