Lugosi’s Ghost, written and directed by Andy Espinoza Long, is the story of Johnny Lugosi, a once great Hollywood writer, stricken with a decades-long bout of writer’s block as he finds inspiration and danger in the connection he forms with a woman who died long ago during the Mexican-American War.

The first thing that stands out about Lugosi’s Ghost is that it’s made in the style of a silent film, down to its dialog caption cards and a title card that convincingly replicates something out of a 1930’s Universal monster movie. The majority of the short is sepia-toned with the occasional splash of blue to represent night scenes. The whole suite of effects is here to convince us that we’re watching a period film, from the vignetting and film scratches to the constant whirr of the projector and sequences of where the footage is sped up. The only problem with this is that the entire short takes place in the present day outside of the opening sequence of the Mexican girl’s witchcraft ritual to take revenge on the American invaders (which would technically have occurred before film was a thing, so it doesn’t make a ton of sense either).

Outside of that, there isn’t a lot going on here. Lots of scenes of Johnny at his laptop and hiking around LA, where he happens upon the cursed rosary, but otherwise it’s mostly about one man’s struggles with writer’s block. To the short’s credit, the ending sequence raises the stakes and the score is a charming combination of Spanish guitars and ragtime piano which contribute to the aesthetic and helps to make it feel somewhat more cohesive.