In Kyle Zanika’s short film Night Visit, a mysterious woman named Keylot Fehyom (Chelsea J. Smith) arrives at a quiet home in the middle of the night. She is greeted by Jay-Mob, whom she quickly and violently murders while calmly speaking in a foreign language. After watching him die, she washes her hands in his bathroom, uses an alien device to remove blood from her shirt, and retrieves a strange piece of alien technology hidden in his cupboard before returning to her car.
Driving off into the night, Keylot listens to a paranormal radio program called Night Visit, where the first caller describes a strange encounter with an alien outside a liquor store. He claims he captured the event on video, but the footage was quickly taken down, and “federal agents” raided his home to seize the evidence. As the eerie broadcast continues, Keylot drives past a liquor store and spots a young woman, Karen (Azia Zari), standing alone outside. She offers Karen a ride, and after some hesitation, Karen gets into the car.
As they drive, Karen continues to receive texts from her boyfriend, Trent, growing more frequent and desperate with each buzz. He keeps pressing her for the money she owes him, and although Karen doesn’t mention him out loud, Keylot begins to sense his presence in Karen’s life. Without a word exchanged, Keylot seems to intuit that Trent might be “right” for Karen, though what that means exactly remains unsettlingly unclear.
“Keylot listens to a paranormal radio program called Night Visit…”
Night Visit is an intriguing exercise in tension. When we first meet Keylot, she is a blank slate until bits of information are revealed, such as her thirst for murder and then her alien DNA. Then, when Karen enters the picture, Keylot’s reasons for bringing her along on the murder spree remain a mystery. Night Visit kept me off balance. As the plot starts to become clear, the story shifts into blood spatter and death.
All short films should be like Night Visit. Keep your audience engaged with your story. Keep them wondering. Keep them guessing. A good story like this means the filmmaker will not need to rely on heavy CGI or visual effects to make it cooler than necessary. By the way, the effects are pretty cool. I feel bad for the poor victims.
Night Visit delivers just the right mix of mystery, sci-fi, and horror without overstaying its welcome. Director Kyle Zanika keeps the pace tight and the intrigue high, thanks to an engaging script and fantastic performances.
"…delivers just the right mix of mystery, sci-fi, and horror..."
