Produced and directed by Peter Howard and Glenn Delaney, Pirouette is a supernatural horror that gives life to a seemingly harmless object — an antique music box. Pirouette is presented by the Downright Creepy YouTube channel, and rightfully so, as this short film is truly creepy in its sound design, special effects makeup artistry, and musical score.

Pirouette stars Ani Priyo as Kate, a young woman who finds an antique music box at a garage sale. By the time she gets home, the toy ballerina is missing from inside the box, however, she soon finds that the ballerina is still in the house with her. Kate begins to experience a series of chilling events that eventually bring them face to face.

I felt they revealed the supernatural-being one scene too early, however, upon its second appearance when I got a better look at its design, I felt the makeup was done very well, using special effects to make a life-sized toy ballerina. Played by Hannah Sims, the aesthetic of the supernatural being struck that “uncanny valley” chord of fear, and coupled with its methodical movements, the visual of this character was quite effective in bringing a horrific element to the film.

Some aspects of the story are left unexplained, such as why the supernatural being revealed itself to Kate and not the owner she bought it from, or what the supernatural being actually does to its victims, but these missing elements could be contributed to the film being a short film and likely low production budget. I would have liked seeing the being actually do something to the protagonist — the first interaction was underwhelming and the second interaction was cut too short.

The film had at least two opportunities to show the being’s power, however, despite the missing pieces to the story and the supernatural entity not being optimized for use, Pirouette looked and sounded great. The short had gloomily colored photography that set an ominous atmosphere and the musical score and sound design were excellently produced.

7 out of 10