Short Film: Esther (2023)

Synopsis

Katy has returned to her childhood home, and she’s recording a message to her therapist. She’s changed locations and jobs recently, and she’s not doing so well. She’s especially having trouble with her smoke alarm going off every night at 2 a.m., even after she took out the batteries. She has an irrational fear of fire, so that’s kind of important.

She buys a new smoke detector. That night, it goes off again at 2 a.m. She gets up to investigate and records something on her phone that she didn’t expect…

Commentary

It’s a one-actor show, with Haley Heslip playing both Katy and Esther. She’s good, and the story is excellent. The cinematography and music are great, the pacing is perfect, and the creature effects work well for the story.

I don’t know that it scared me, but the sound of the smoke alarm going off sent my cat under the bed for a couple of hours!