Friends, I am so thrilled to share this short horror movie with you tonight. I’m not an expert film critic, and art is subjective. My opinion is just my opinion, and my opinion of Return to Sender is that it lacks nothing.

Every aspect of this film inspires admiration: the writing and directing, the casting and acting, the set and sound design, the pacing of the story, and the story, itself. I instantly loved Julia, the protagonist, and I emphasized with her; she had my emotional investment within one minute. It’s amazing to think of the hundreds of hours I’ve spent watching full-feature films over my lifetime that failed to capture my interest in this integral way at all, much less than inside of a minute. I felt that I knew Julia and wanted to be friends with her, and that is what made the events of the 18-minute film devastating to me.

As with last week’s featured horror short, this film is devoid of violence and gore, which would please those of you who prefer your horror without. Impressively, there’s no villain in sight, nor any element of the supernatural. No monsters. No natural disasters. Return to Sender manages to brew tension and stir The Creeps in an absence of horror tropes. It is 100% well-crafted psychological horror with a scenario that’s chilling, in part, because it could happen to any of us.

Allison Tolman’s delicate performance as Julia brought the character to multidimensional life and lent unsettling realism to the story, a tale told elegantly despite its layers and complexities. There are no villains, but there are demons, and they are real.

Without further ado:

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Until next week!