Guys are such simple creatures. Especially single guys; the kind who are just out of college, have a couple of roommates and are just starting to find their way in the world. Guys like Sam (Ed Madden), Ralph (Eric Jungwith), and Joey (Danny Saco), for instance. They come home from work, pop open a few brewskis, watch the basketball game on the tube, and call it a night. Except when one of them brings home the occasional lady friend, which is the only possible explanation the utterly unimaginative Sam and Ralph can come up with to explain the strange bumping noises that emanated from Joey’s room the night before. Being the macho young stud that he is, the initially evasive culprit sheepishly plays along and “admits” that he had been entertaining company. As we learn in director Hector Hill’s sly short film “Things That Go Bump in the Night,” however, guys like these three maybe aren’t quite as predictable and one-dimensional as they initially seem.
This quirky film succeeds at throwing the viewer totally off balance. It does so in such a way that it actually makes the audience a little nervous; a touch edgy. It’s a relief to discover that what these guys are really doing in the privacy of their own bedrooms is actually harmless and even a little ridiculous…not to say a touch bizarre.
Madden, Jungwith, and Saco, while not exactly oozing with chemistry, at least interact believably. The film’s photography, meanwhile, is fairly perfunctory for the most part with a few arty splashes scattered about in a not-always successful attempt to offset the dreaded “White Wall Syndrome.”
Amusing, odd and somewhat surreal, “Things That Go Bump in the Night” is a revealing peep through the keyhole; an uncensored look at what roommates really do behind their closed doors.
