Written by Justin Lazor and co-directed by Dan Riordan and Jo Rou, the short film, Mary, shows off its creators’ prowess for character development, interesting dialogue, and atmosphere building in a haunted-horror story about family ties in present-day society.

Mary follows insurance agent Rich (Logan Culter Smith) and takes place a year after the passing of his mother, to whom he was the sole caretaker. One day, Rich is tasked with visiting the home of an elderly woman named Mary (Juliette Regnier) to discuss potential changes to her policy. During their visit, Mary proves to be frighteningly clingy and suspiciously knowledgeable of Rich’s relationship with his deceased mother.

In short, this short film was a great mix of young and old — both aesthetically with the characters, aurally with the music, and existentially with the opposing sensibilities of familial obligation between younger and older generations. Mary turns out to be a bit of a commentary piece on how western society currently deals with aging parents, who are often forgotten due to their children placing work before family in an attempt to make money to survive.

In the case of the film’s protagonist, the necessities of modern living are shown to breed neglect towards a dying parent, and the guilt of such a choice lingers and manifests as a waking nightmare brought on by a vengeful entity. Mary‘s haunting images go back and forth between homey and haunted, and its sounds, musically, go back and forth between old-timey and contemporary — these aspects work together to show the nightmare of guilt and grief that comes with both remembering and forgetting a loved one and having to live (and die) with the feeling of not having done enough.

Mary will play on the psyche of anyone who has not called their mother in a reasonable amount of time, and serves as a gentle reminder from a wholesome but vengeful spirit to do so, lest she teaches you a lesson you’ll not be able to forget! Like a venus fly trap, Mary‘s imagery begins as a beautiful and non-threatening venture, but once the protagonist (and me, as the audience) become ensnared in its story we are done for; thoroughly entertained by its performances and visuals, despite the uncomfortable emotional guilt trip that is the message of this short film.

7.5 out of 10