No good deed goes unpunished. Directed by Chris & Miles, The Girl in the Street is a tense and unsettling short film that examines the cost of doing the right thing when danger looms in plain sight. How far would you go to talk yourself out of helping a stranger when your every instinct says to turn away?
Moving from the city to a quiet small town, Malachi (Shawn Roundtree Jr.) struggles to leave behind his terminally ill sister, Val (D’Andra Laneé), to take a once‑in‑a‑lifetime job opportunity offered to him by Sasha (Whitney Blair Masters). Settling into his new home, the locals welcome him and invite him to attend a mysterious church in the center of town. While talking with Val on the phone, he’s open to the idea of attending the church, but feels their subtle judgment, as if he doesn’t belong.
Soon, the phone call is interrupted by a faint cry outside. It’s the sound of a woman in the street crying and moaning as though severely injured. Torn between staying inside and actually helping the woman, Malachi senses danger and hesitates. Despite that, he calls 911, and the dispatcher’s disembodied voice (Heather Langenkamp) scolds him for not going out to help the woman.
Malachi takes cautious steps toward a bloodied woman in the street.
“A woman barely walking down the street, bloodied and wearing a mask.”
Overcome by guilt and concern, Malachi realizes he can’t ignore her cry. He steels himself and steps outside, where he sees a woman barely walking down the street, bloodied and wearing a mask.
I love films that make me wrestle with their theme, even when the final outcome should be crystal clear. The Girl in the Street asks the question, What does it mean to be a ‘good’ person? For Malachi, it’s to help the woman, but then again, we live in a world of grey. Malachi is forced to weigh his own safety against helping someone in apparent distress. It appears that our goodness is judged by the amount of time it takes to do the right thing.
In The Girl in the Street, filmmakers Chris & Miles masterfully overlay their horror on top of this morality tale. For a short film, it feels very cinematic. It’s clear from the opening conversation between Malachi and Sasha that there is something very wrong, and the terror only escalates from there. The horror is meticulously crafted to keep you off-balance until the credits roll. The Girl in the Street would make the perfect addition to any film festival’s midnight horror block.
For screening information about The Girl in the Street, visit the Swym Good official website.
"…How far would you go to talk yourself out of helping a stranger?"
