Two children, a brother (Alex) and his older sister (Emma), are playing an eerie game inspired from a local legend: they are summoning The Madame In Black in front of the mirror. When 20 years later Alex and Emma meet to celebrate Emma’s birthday the party ends with the same temptation: that of playing the game of childhood one more time. Alex tries to refuse, still haunted by what he believes he saw back then, in his childhood, but as the rest of the group insist to do it for fun things get… unleashed.
The characters in Jarno Vinsencius’ short film ‘The Madame In Black‘ can easily be perceived as the archetypes of people who like ‘playing with fire’. Man has always been drawn to mysteries and the instinct of looking to trigger them is uncontrollable. But challenging forces beyond our understanding are challenging the unknown and acting shallow. It is what happens to the protagonists of Jarno Vinsencius’ films: their actions reflect a shallow attitude towards a thing they don’t know about. This eventually puts them face to face with something they have not only been afraid of but also something that they would rather have avoided. This is also a way to show that people are rarely aware of the consequences of their own actions. Director Jarno Vinsencius has made several short film projects taking on several roles on each project. He is most well known for doing the camera work as well. ‘The Madame In Black’ is the first horror project coming from him. Cinematography is well handled as always, directing is confident and actors manage to ‘dive into’ their characters raising the film’s power to engage the viewer with the story. The suspense is greatly built and music is a real enhancer for the atmosphere and mood of the film.
‘The Madame In Black’ rewards the audience with an entertaining experience that comes with eerie feelings and efficient chills down the spine. Horror ‘beginners’ have the chance to get the taste of a horror in just under 25 minutes, while for the fans of the genre this is an unmissable one.
Do you know who The Madame in Black is? If not, then have a look!
TMFF RATING:
