As the seclusion of the lockdown became more intense the past few years, filmmakers started becoming more ambitious with their “quarantine movies” gradually moving towards genre paths. Suman Hanif's 15-minute short also moves towards this direction, with a horror movie that is shot remotely in the UK.
“What Next?” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
May, a young woman who has just moved out of her town, video calls her friend, Adam, terrified due to a number of rather scary incidents taking place in her new apartment. He, however, is dismissive and laughs her terrors offs, even joking about the worst thing that happened to him, the near fish and chips joint closing. The girl hangs up on him frustrated, but he calls again almost immediately, and she picks up. This time, Adam is willing to hear of what happened to her, although his attitude is not that much changed, while also reminding her of the fact that she used to drink a lot in the past. However, as her stories become weirder, his attitude changes. That is until his girlfriend calls May.
Despite the restrictions, Suman Hanif manages to create a palpable atmosphere of horror, by including a number of classical genre elements, with the message in the mirror, the stranger knocking at the door and “invading” the apartment, the unexplained moving of objects and the strange phone calls. The editing by Philip Jones, works quite well in that regard, with the succession of phenomena and the antithesis of the terrified girl and the smug guy being ideal in order to communicate the fact that something unusual does take place. The whole approach is cemented with the “Usual Suspects” finale, which closes the short through a twist that is quite satisfying.
At the same time, and through the genre approach, Hanif also comments on how the quarantine intensified issues like alcoholism, along with the impact the lack of communication and social interactions had to people.
Ahmed Sher Zaman as May communicates his smugness quite nicely while Suman Hanif as May is impressive in the way she portrays her horror and despair.
“What Next?” is a rather interesting short, that, essentially, takes advantage of the restrictions in order to create an atmosphere of horror that results in a very entertaining spectacle.
