The Foal is an eleven-minute short film that follows Lila (Madison Gallus), the morning after a party. After waking up with symptoms of a hangover, she notices strange marks on her neck. She then speaks with her, not at all likable husband, David (Noah Fletcher), here we learn that she’s pregnant and not feeling well. This leads to arguments and an unfortunate event.

The Foal has two problems that hold it down, the first being that it seems to be suffering from an identity crisis. It isn’t sure if it wants to be a thriller, drama, or even horror. With such a short run time, it’s hard to get invested in a story that doesn’t seem invested in itself. The second problem is the character of David, he comes off as a bully, selfish and downright spiteful. Every time he was on screen you just stopped caring about what was happening.

This short isn’t all bad though. It was cleanly edited and Madison Gallus did well as Lila. While the tone may not be as cohesive as it could have been, the way the sensitive subject matter (miscarriage) was handled was well done. It wasn’t graphic or used for shock value. In fact, the only way you really know what happened was the reactions of the characters. With that said, we are only given a minute and a half to process what has happened before the tone shifts again.

You can see the effort put into the film and the passion behind the camera. The way the content is handled was well done. But without a consistent tone and half the cast being unbearable to watch, The Foal is a wasted chance to be something more than a simple pet project.