Horror short of the week: The Quiet Zone by Andrew Ionides
We've been poking around YouTube trying to find the best horror short films so you don't have to. This week: The Quiet Zone by Andrew Ionides.
Synopsis: A commute goes disastrously awry when Ella tells a noisy passenger to be quiet in the silent coach of a train.
Background: "It was kind of based on a series of bad journeys I had into work," writer/director Andrew Ionides explained in an interview at the NYC horror film festival. "Unfortunately I witnessed a few passengers annoying people in the quiet zones [on trains]. Being the sick, twisted writer that I am I thought 'what if?' and it resulted in this kind of stalker story." Ionides has been directing short films for the last six years. The Quiet Zone premiered in 2016 and was part of the official selection for the Screamfest horror film festival that year.
Pros: It's properly scary if you've ever been alone on a long, dark commute. It takes everyday frustrations (noisy passengers, your Oyster card not working) and develops them to horrifying extremes. Jessica Bayly is excellent as Ella and top marks for a seriously creepy monster.
Cons: It's massively let down by it's ending, a kind of lazy "was it all a dream?" scenario with a predictable twist. It's sense of place is also fuzzy. Ella seems to leave the the train station to emerge into a creepy passageway that has no real reason for being there.
Digging deeper: Interestingly both the other passenger we see massacred and Ella's hook-handed pursuer are played by the same person (Kasey Iliana Sfetsios). Does this reinforce the interpretation that the whole thing was a kind of anxiety dream about what other passangers might do to Ella if she tells them to shush?
Verdict: A scary, if frustrating, story about why you should always be nice to people on trains.
Fill your Twitter feed with witty horror banter. Follow us:Background: "It was kind of based on a series of bad journeys I had into work," writer/director Andrew Ionides explained in an interview at the NYC horror film festival. "Unfortunately I witnessed a few passengers annoying people in the quiet zones [on trains]. Being the sick, twisted writer that I am I thought 'what if?' and it resulted in this kind of stalker story." Ionides has been directing short films for the last six years. The Quiet Zone premiered in 2016 and was part of the official selection for the Screamfest horror film festival that year.
Pros: It's properly scary if you've ever been alone on a long, dark commute. It takes everyday frustrations (noisy passengers, your Oyster card not working) and develops them to horrifying extremes. Jessica Bayly is excellent as Ella and top marks for a seriously creepy monster.
Cons: It's massively let down by it's ending, a kind of lazy "was it all a dream?" scenario with a predictable twist. It's sense of place is also fuzzy. Ella seems to leave the the train station to emerge into a creepy passageway that has no real reason for being there.
Digging deeper: Interestingly both the other passenger we see massacred and Ella's hook-handed pursuer are played by the same person (Kasey Iliana Sfetsios). Does this reinforce the interpretation that the whole thing was a kind of anxiety dream about what other passangers might do to Ella if she tells them to shush?
Verdict: A scary, if frustrating, story about why you should always be nice to people on trains.
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