Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
There’s a soft tick-tick like whirring in the background as the protagonist of the short horror film “Winston” begins to narrate letters he has been writing to his brother Marcus. They are desperate dispatches where Winston describes his descent into madness, even though he insists he is sane, although the cold harsh winter might be playing tricks with his mind.
Created by Aram Sarkisian and Gabby Capili, “Winston” is six-minutes long, a crisp little animated thriller that unfolds like Fyodor Doestovesky’s stream-of-consciousness device on film. Matt Kelly hauntingly voices Winston, vividly expressing the nuances of the character’s anxious, nervous nature, immediately pulling viewers into the disturbed mind of a paranoid man who might be losing his grip on reality.
The animation is sketch-like in nature, with a grim palette, and Winston appearing like a shadowy character, with a lean face and sunken blue eyes that have a permanent glint of anger and terror in them. The snow landscape and a constant howling of wind through most of the runtime adds a touch of madness to this tale, which despite its limited runtime captures a whole gamut of emotions.
It’s a riveting little film, which, as many viewers have already pointed out, echoes a very Edgar Allan Poe-like oeuvre and is perfect for horror fans.
Rating: 4 on 5.
You can watch “Winston” on YouTube. It’s also embedded below.