Short Film: Stucco (2020) Review

Directed and written by: Janina Gavankar and Russo Schelling
Starring: Janina Gavankar, Michael Ealy, Emmy Raver Lampman, Debra Messing
Run Time: 17:28
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eaZZc7O2PE

Short Film: Stucco (2020)
Short Film: Stucco (2020)

Synopsis

J is having a bad day in her new home. She’s cut herself, spilled her dinner all over the floor, and then ruined the carpet. After ordering dinner, she goes to hang up a picture on the wall and bangs a hole in the wall. Oops.

She calls the realtor and asks for plans to the house, wondering what’s on the other side of the wall. She goes to bed, but then she dreams about the hole in the wall. We learn that she’s agoraphobic, afraid to open the door or leave the house.

That night, she has a sexy dream about the hole in the wall. The next day, her ex-boyfriend pounds on the door in anger. Then the hole starts to get a little bigger in each scene…

Commentary

Once again, we have a short film that is dark for no reason. Modern apartments are not dark all the time, and we have no reason to believe that the place is evil or haunted, so why is it all so dark? Because video filters make darkness too easy.

I don’t know the backstory here, but they have several well-known actors in this, including Janina Gavankar, Colton Haynes, Michael Ealy, Debra Messing, Deborah Ann Woll, Rutina Wesley, and Aisha Tyler.

Still, it’s very good. That long tongue is really creepy, and I have to wonder how they did that. The thing at the end is really awesome, and I would have liked to have seen more of it.