Autopilot (2020) - Short Horror Film Review

It can't be denied that 2020 has been a terrible year for pretty much everyone, there are silver linings though. One of these is the Corman Quarantine Film Festival. This was created by the prolific film director and producer, Roger Corman. The rules for participating were that the film had to be under two minutes in length, the cast must be from family, or whoever you live with, and that directors are asked to use their mobile phone camera and lighting available from around the house. Autopilot is the entry from Shane Ryan (My name Is 'A' by Anonymous, Oni-gokko) and Kade Tabin.

The story is abstract and plays out in silence with no dialogue or sound effects, just a dramatic score playing over the top of it. From what I could gather this shows a girl alone in lock down, going through repetitive motions of life trapped inside, on autopilot so to speak. As the monotonous days go on and on her mind begins to unravel.

I liked how a story was told without any need for explanation, and for some of the striking images here. The best one, and one the short kept going back to, was the girl, wearing a face mask laying in red water, as the short goes on the girl appears more and more bloody. There is good use of repetition here, the girl going to her freezer, the girl drawing, the girl lying expressionless on her side. There was also great lighting here, a sort of wave effect over many of the images.

Autopilot was a clever use of the time provided and was a short that I found myself watching several times in a row to really soak in the flavour of it. Check it out for yourself below.

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