THE PEY *** USA 2021 Dir: Ramone Menon. 9 mins
After sharing a mysterious GIF online, a social media-obsessed teenager is hunted by a terrifying monster known as The Pey.
This was a rather fun and enjoyable short. The concept is quite intriguing, taking a monster that would’ve normally come from folklore and attached a modern bent to it with the connection to social media obsession and the desperation people have for likes and followers. This feels quite original and charming with a great setup to it that is paid off nicely with the chilling sequences of the creature stalking her throughout her house. As the connection to her post on social media and the resulting confrontation is established, these are handled incredibly well with plenty of suspense and tension which is all quite fun to watch. However, while that all manage to work incredibly well on just a physical sensation, this one does stumble with the rest of the storyline. Since there’s no time to get to know what the creature is, how it works, or why it’s connecting to others around the world through the social media posts, this one tends to remain quite mysterious about it as everything is just assumed and supposition from the one frantic phone-call we get that’s all info-dump to get the information out. Had this been extended out into a feature-length adaptation, which is entirely worthwhile, this short would serve as a fantastic cold open to everything else which is the lone drawback to this one.
Review by Don Anelli