Welcome to LA
Main Cast: Hannah Barlow, Kirk Baltz
Director: Evan Cooper
Emma (Hannah Barlow, SISSY) has just arrived in LA from Australia with dreams of becoming an actress in the short film THE ARMOIRE. But first she’s got to furnish the new apartment her mother is helping her pay for, so she checks the “cheap furniture in LA” listings online. Walking home with a chair and a reading lamp, she spots an abandoned armoire in a parking lot.
She gets it home, removes the duct tape the previous owner wrapped it in, and hangs up her clothes.
The next day she comes home from an audition to find those clothes thrown about the room.
And things get more menacing from there. The slats in the front of the armoire open on their own. She hears the persistent sound of fingers drumming from somewhere in the apartment. Then there’s the night she wakes up in the middle of the night to find a black figure crouching on top of the armoire, watching her sleep. And drumming its fingers.
I really enjoyed this short from writer/director Evan Cooper (Threads). We get the setup, the horror, and don’t get bogged down in the unnecessary third act nonsense Hollywood likes to tack onto strong premises. We don’t get anyone coming in and trying to force the demon or whatever’s in the armoire out, there’s no laser light show and wind effects while someone screams at the demon to BEGONE FROM THIS PLACE.
Just a simple premise and setup, in and out before it wears out its welcome.
Is THE ARMOIRE scary? Well, it certainly makes you wonder about the free stuff you see on the sidewalks around town. WHY is it free when it looks perfectly serviceable? I think one of our 18 or so bookshelves at the house may have been a sidewalk pickup, and what would we have done if we’d gone to get a book from the shelf and found something like this on top of it, just lounging there, staring at us?
Nothing productive, I can tell you that!
THE ARMOIRE is a short one, 13 minutes or so, none of them wasted. Cooper’s got a good eye for horror and his dialogue feels natural. We understand Emma’s situation without a lot of awkward exposition with her mother, and Hannah Barlow feels at home in the role.
Does it feel SLIGHTLY unfinished? Well … there was a detail about the ending that left a few questions unanswered. Maybe they’re saving that for the sequel, THE CHEST OF DRAWERS?
Either way, in a long line of mediocre horror shorts, it’s nice to see one that reminds me of reading a collection of short stories. Go watch THE ARMOIRE for free on the Alter YouTube channel.
C. Dennis Moore is the author of over 60 published short stories and novellas in the speculative fiction genre. Most recent appearances are in the Dark Highlands 2, What Fears Become, Dead Bait 3 and Dark Highways anthologies. His novels are Revelations, and the Angel Hill stories, The Man in the Window, The Third Floor, and The Flip.
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