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When little Kylie visits her ailing paternal grandfather, she wonders why the house is filled with scary objects, and is informed they are heirlooms.
“It’s something that gets passed down, so it goes from family member to family member,” a relative explains.
“Even if they don’t want it?”
An excellent question posed by the innocent girl. Unfortunately, she gets a generic answer about how the importance of family, which isn’t very satisfactory.
Written and directed by Peter Huang, ‘Heirlooms’ is a short horror film which is less about creepy artifacts and more about generational trauma. The heirlooms lying ominously around the house owned by Kylie’s family are a fitting metaphor: ugly things you inherit, even if you don’t want to come into their possession.
The short film opens with Kylie and her parents arriving to visit her dying grandfather, and are greeted by her aging aunt Melinda. Kylie isn’t keen on greeting her grandfather, as he ominously lies in a home-care room, which is dimly lit and feels instantly oppressive.
Less than 14 minutes long, ‘Heirlooms’ quickly turns Kylie’s visit home into a terrifying nightmare when an eerie incident unfolds in the middle of the night. She witnesses something deeply disturbing, and at first, it leaves viewers questioning whether it was a real event or merely a troubling dream. The following morning, her father refuses to believe her account, while her mother responds with greater empathy and understanding.
A last-minute twist sheds light on what is truly happening inside the house, leading to an unsettling, open-ended climax. Overall, this is an effective horror short that explores how generational trauma is handed down like heirlooms, passed from one generation to the next. Even if we don’t want it.
Maybe with a slightly longer runtime, the film would’ve been even more powerful, as it does briefly also manages to highlight that while certain traumas may be inherited, it is up to each person to ensure the cycle ends with them.
Watch ‘Heirlooms’ on YouTube.
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