reviews

Reviews for Nothing In the Dark:

The Horror Review
Review by Horror Bob

Overall Rating:**** Scare Factor:****

I normally get scared when a short hits my desk. Because it either means that it's a low-budget film or it's a really bad student film. Most of the time I get bad student films, and maybe about twenty-five percent of the shorts that have passed through my door and into my DVD player were indie films that were worth the watch. However, there is always that one gem that hits you and makes you feel as if you have to let the world know about it. "Nothing In the Dark" written & directed by new filmmaker John Correll, Jr. is one of those gems...
..."Nothing In the Dark" is a simple, direct to the point idea, and it works wonderfully.... The directing and writting are nothing but top notch and my hat goes off...
...The acting is extremely well... [Emma Berwick] was great...
...[John] Correll is a talent that should not be overlooked... another name that deserves to be on Horror Bob's list of great indie directors...
...a short simple film done extremely well. I'm sure any parent who sees this film will be letting thier kids sleep in bed with them for the next few months. Read the full review here.

Triggerstreet Reviews:

"The cinemtography was great... Overall, a good job. I look forward to seeing more of your work..."     Review ID: 903136

"Great Job... [the ending] was amazingly deadly and unchildish!"     Review ID: 902024

"...[Reminded] me of some films of David Lynch which is really good sign..." Review ID: 898287
"A really good production in suspense and terror... Solid camera work. [Emma Berwick] does a great job... Excellent work in composition and set design... I loved those creepy dolls and figures scattered throughout the room, all lit from angles throwing great [and] creepy shadows..."
                                                                                                                    Review ID 895293

"I was glued... from beginning to end. This is a well-crafted short film that succeeds in building the tension... the sound design is excellent, I admire the use of black and white... Choice of music was perfect..."     Review ID: 891596

"This film kept me on the edge of my [seat]... It was eerie... It was a wise choice of music, and sounds. As a matter of fact... the sounds [and music] that made the film..."     Review ID: 889823

The Hacker's Source
Reviewed by: Dave Dunwoody

Nothing In the Dark is an effective nine-mintue chiller that recreates a feeling familiar to most: that of dread & isolation as a child lying in bed. Emma Berwick is the girl who finds herself tormented by whatever may lie beyond the safe boundaries of her blanket. It's fear ever-amplified by a youngster's imagination, and here, as she silently searches the darkness, her perceived horrors in every dim silhouette areconveyed through eerie sound effects and wonderfully simplistic music. Both Correll's quick cuts and lingering pans help to build suspense. As for young Emma Berwick, her performance is dead-on. She doesn't overdo the terror at all, demonstrating the talent of both actor and director. You know a short film is working when it actually makes you nostalgic for those endless nights with the covers pulled over your face. Correll is aiming to complete a feature-length version of the tale, and if he can sustain the same feeling, it's going to be something.

Monsters At Play
Review By: Bradley Harding

The first selection is a beautiful little tone poem called Nothing In the Dark... a quick 9 minute piece revoling around a little girl (Emma Berwick) afraid to go to bed alone. It turns out that she has a good reason to be concerned as her dark bedroom becomes a living nightmare. Various apparitions come at her from every corner; a figure in a pig mask, an arm behind the bed, something ominous below. Correll does a great job with the foreboding B&W imagery, skillfully capturing the fever dream point of view of a young child. Also of note are the abstract sound design, though a creepy music box version of "Fly me to the Moon" overstays its welcome. It's a tense, well-shot short with some genuinely unsettling moments... it's great to see such strong, varied work coming out of nowhere (makes this reviewer less afraid to open the Monster packages sent over for review!)

MicrocinemaScene
Review By: Pete Bauer

**** Stars

What if the things little kids see in the dark in their room at night are real? That's the premise of John Correll's effectively creepy short Nothing in the Dark. It apperas to have been shot on black and white film MOS with audio dubbed later. The post-audio work actually increases the unsettling feeling as a little girl, played well by Emma Berwick, tries to convince herself that the shadowy figure in the room is not real...
Nice work by Correll to take a very simple idea and create a foreboding sense of anticipation as we, like the girl, try to convince ourselves that there's "nothing in the dark."
For the full review click here.