While Mortals Sleep
2022 · 14m · USA
Directed by Alex Fofonoff
Genres: horror
Tones: contemplative, dark, surreal
A cold case novelist whose career is imploding seeks refuge at a friend's remote vacation home, only to find a strange couple claiming to be caretakers who are nurturing a creature they believe is their god.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Super 16mm grain, a mid-film genre flip to cult horror, practical puppet god — the Hereditary/Rosemary's Baby comp stack is doing some heavy lifting. Curious enough to press play, suspicious it'll wear its references like a sandwich board.
A deliberate genre-pivot from psychological thriller into Lovecraftian puppetry, shot on Super 16 — Fofonoff is reaching for Ari Aster by way of Stuart Gordon. The mid-film flip is the gamble that distinguishes the work, and I am cautiously curious.
Super 16mm shooting for a grainy '70s texture is a load-bearing choice for a film that wants to flip from psychological thriller to practical-puppet cosmic horror at the midpoint. The format commitment is what sells that genre pivot when CG would have killed it.
Reviews
Enthralling quick-fix horror that offers thrills and excitement with such a short runtime and left me truly impressed with all levels of filmmaking.
Writer/director Alex Fofonoff's brilliant short delivers a cold case novelist going through a difficult patch — a Sundance highlight that masterfully pivots from psychological thriller to cosmic horror.
Festivals
- Sundance Film Festival 2022
- Miami Short Film Festival 2022