In The Shed, we follow a woman named Whitney (Eva Hamilton). She's a struggling escort who responds to an ad for a housesitting gig.
Sounds easy enough, right?
Whitney calls the number and meets up with Barbara (Stacey Nelkin). Barbara has some business to attend to out of town, so she hires Whitney to watch over; you guessed it: The Shed. Whitney begins to make herself at home, not realizing there's an unknown presence watching her every move.
I mentioned in my review for In Search of Darkness Part II that 80's horror films are my personal favorite. That also applies to modern day films inspired by this very decade. The Shed is a 22 minute short film that's very much inspired by the 80's direct-to-video era. This is something that could easily take place within the Halloween universe. There are obvious references to those movies; especially with the casting. The Shed's two main players are Stacey Nelkin and Eva Hamilton. Eva is also one of the writers and co-directors, and she's terrific as the main protagonist. The addition of Stacey Nelkin is what initially drew me to this film, because she's one of the main stars of Halloween III. And get this: The Shed marks Stacey Nelkin's return to the horror genre.
Welcome back Stacey!
The Shed is sort of a home invasion story, where we follow Whitney as she's being targeted by some type of creature as she's housesitting. It's a well crafted short film that does an excellent job in paying homage to the films that inspired it. It's well written, well acted and works wonders with the simple yet effective and premise. The Shed has Halloween DNA all over it. Especially with the musical cues, which sounds a lot like the jump scare noises in Halloween III. These jolts of tension work, for the most part. My main issue with The Shed is that it's far too short for my liking. I would love to see this made into a full length feature film. It's clear that the cast and crew behind this have more than enough talent to pull it off.
The Shed is an enjoyable motion picture with excellent music. It perfectly captures that 80's horror spirit with a lovable cast and simple story. The fact that it marks Stacey Nelkin's return to the horror genre is more than enough of a reason to watch it. It was great seeing her act alongside Eva Hamilton onscreen. I would love see what The MoonCats will come up with next. If they
decide to do another horror project, I would love to see it star Tom Atkins. That would be more than enough to thrill me.
