Scrambled
2014 · 10m · United Arab Emirates
Directed by Faisal Hashmi
A man injures himself alone late at night and begins receiving mysterious letters at his door, each tied to a creepy urban legend that may be more real than it should be. Shot solo by the director in Dubai.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
One guy, one Canon 600D, zero crew, an injured man, and mysterious letters. Hashmi keeps making Dubai horror on no budget and somehow keeps nailing escalation. The letters-as-horror-device is old; the execution is not.
Hashmi as one-man crew, building an urban-legend horror from a delivery mechanism (letters under a door) — the formal restriction (no crew, single location) is the discipline. Solid lo-fi horror.
Hashmi solo again — no crew, no budget, one location, one actor — building a creepy-urban-legend escalator out of mysterious letters at a door. The constraint shows, but so does the discipline.
Festivals
- Oshkosh Horror Film Festival 2013
- Horrible Imaginings Horror Film Festival 2013
- Murdoch's My Film Fest Dubai 2013, Best Film