Giving off vibes of both Hot Fuzz and Funny Games, writer/director Ted Clarke’s handsomely produced short, All Eyes on You, is a movie for all those people who have ever had to deal with overly attentive neighbors. You know, those folks that should you piss them off, transform from well-meaning welcomers into the nutters next door that won’t leave you alone.
Claire (Laura Nock) and Adam (Callum Parker) have moved away from the hustle and bustle to a house in the country, recently willed to Adam. The setting is tranquil, and the home is happily situated. The duo barely have time to set down their luggage when there comes a knock at their door. The neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne (Barry Smith and Heath Tammy), have come by to question and pry. After outstaying their welcome at the front door, the Hawthornes awkwardly leave the new couple to themselves, but unease has set in.
“…noises outside rouse Adam, and he finds a strange dark vehicle watching the house from the road.”
That night, noises outside rouse Adam, and he finds a strange dark vehicle watching the house from the road. The next day, when the couple decides to go out for lunch, Adam descends the stairs to find the mail carrier (Haris Khawaja) standing in the middle of the house, looking around. After losing his cool and forcing the man out, Claire and Adam decide to shake off the building tension with an excursion. As they walk amongst the picturesque landscape in which they now live, Adam spies a photographer he swears is watching and photographing them. After a confrontation, which ends with the photographer showing Adam he has no pictures of them, the couple notice a dark vehicle (the same Adam saw the night before) trailing them. Anger, distaste, and distrust creep under the skin of the happy couple, and soon their past and former relationships come under examination as a root cause of their anxiety-endured paranoia. But are Claire and Adam paranoid, or is there something really wrong with their neighbors?
All Eyes on You is a class act. Shot, scored, directed, written, and performed with gusto. Invoking great memories of pictures that traffic in the same psychological terror as John Carpenter’s The Thing and Colin Eggleston’s Long Weekend, it’s a shame it’s a short, because you’ll be begging for more.
"…a class act."
