Filmmaker Gordon Phillips asks a simple question in his short film The Me in the TV. Are we being watched, or are we the ones watching? I know, weird, but you’ll see.
Sophie (Mika Wysocki) has just moved into her new apartment. While unpacking, she finds an old entertainment cabinet with an even older television (you know…the kind with an antenna) tucked inside. She turns it on and gets nothing, so she forgets about it. Exhausted from unpacking, Sophie lies on the bed. And after a moment, the TV clicks on by itself. On the screen, Sophie lies in her bed. It’s almost as if there’s a surveillance camera in the ceiling, but alas, there is none. Somebody, or something, is watching her, and she can see it all.
Sophie can’t block the picture, turn it off, or get rid of the thing, and at the most inopportune moment, her new neighbor, Kyle (Steven Oktaras), stops by to introduce himself. Sophie confides in Kyle about what is going on. She insists the woman on the screen isn’t her. The woman looks like Sophie and lives in Sophie’s apartment, but something feels off. As they stare at the screen, they start to wonder whether it’s them or a slightly sinister version of them.
Kyle and Sophie stare at the old television in Sophie’s apartment in The Me in the TV.
“While unpacking, she finds an old entertainment cabinet with an even older television (you know…the kind with an antenna) tucked inside.”
The Me in the TV plays out like an episode of The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror. It delves into other dimensions that are slightly off from our own. In the short, writer/director Phillips effectively sets up the situation, asks the question, and then leaves us with a cliffhanger that leaves me sitting in my seat for a moment, pondering what just happened. Exactly what a horror short like this should do.
In just over seven minutes, Phillips wastes no time with the setup, exploration, and punchline. He has mastered the film’s ominous tone without being too obvious up front. Simple set, simple props, and creepy throughout.
For screening information, visit the The Me in the TV official website.
"…Are we being watched, or are we the ones watching?"
