Birth
It takes a whole lot to disturb me or even slightly gross me out. I love horror movies and I have grown up with them all my life. So I’ve become pretty accustomed to them on all accounts. The reason I am giving a small backstory that’s mostly irrelevant is because… I just saw a film that deeply disturbed me and I felt disgusted after the credits rolled; that’s a fantastic thing. Allow me to talk about “BIRTH”, a film that really made me feel queasy, and impressed at the same time, as the credits began to roll.
The film is extremely quick to cut to the chase regarding the story. So quick, in fact, I had to rewatch the beginning to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. The story may come off as a little hazy in the beginning, but by the end you’ll get a gist of what the filmmakers wanted to explore. What really makes this short film work is the use of sound, the production design, and the cinematography. What is this about? Well, it sure seems to have got a lot of inspiration from “Rosemary’s Baby”, which is a great classic horror film, as well as other possession-like movies. Mix those two together and you get a story about a possessed woman who is pregnant. The father of the child knows of this and attempts to make a plan to save the child and his wife. It’s simple enough, right? Right. It’s just the ending takes a real twist and really pushes the limits, which I appreciated and that’s what separates this from other horror films that have fallen into cliche endings. And the ending is also a contributing factor to making me feel queasy.
Sound makes or breaks a horror film, and it certainly helps this one. With the use of uneasy music and the sound effects later on in the film, it will surely bring an unnerving feeling by the end of the film. There’s the “three S’s” as I call them. Screeching, loud screaming, and squishing. That right there sounds like a horror film and the filmmakers certainly make use of that time after time.
What compliments sound in a movie? Oh yeah, production design. In order to make a sound less of an effect and more of real element in a film, you have to have a production design that really sales that such noises can really come from the scenario. With a creepy set design through each scene, every time lightning flashes on screen to light up an area, I was almost certain that something would be there. The underlying tension is quite intense and a lot of that tension has to be attributed to the soundscape, the location and production design to make the sets work, as well as the last element. Cinematography.
There are a lot of interesting angles that are at play in this short film. A lot of subtle moving that slowly immerses us further into the story goes into play when things begin picking up. The lighting, especially near the end, really helped bring out the creepiness of the location and the situation the characters all end up being in. Add all three elements I mentioned and you get a horror film that has several WTF moments.
I’d tell people to watch this just for the ending sequence alone. Am I messed up for that? I really just want to see other people’s reactions to it and discuss how other movies may have influenced it and how it also pushes boundaries effectively. So, yeah. Watch this for a twist and for the slow tension building that happens in the final act.
