As a film with no dialogue until its final minute, Spellbound offers a lesson in film as a visual medium of storytelling.  Poor James (Nikolas Salmon) just wants to go to sleep, but his routine (and then his sleep itself) are interrupted by nightmarish visions. I’m not sure what the budget was, but for a short film the visual effects are on point and highly effective at creating an unsettling, phantasmagoric landscape through which James wanders.  The rock with eyes, the tower at the waterfall, the constant rain of ash – chef’s kiss.  The visuals are evocative and original. Imagine falling asleep in your bedroom in your apartment and then wake up a half mile downwind of Mount Doom. The visuals combined with expert camera work make this a fascinating and fun little story.

In the scenes of spellcasting, writer/director Robin Rippmann’s camera lingers just long enough to make everyday objects, or what might be décor from a high level Halloween Spirit Store, seem threatening and uncanny. As the title suggests, James is under supernatural assault by a witch, Jennifer (the puckishly diabolical Liza Callinicos), who seems to think of magick as a form of tinder.  She’s not cursing or haunting him so much as angling for a date.  It is an entertaining and well-crafted film that does its job then rolls credits.

Some of the outdoor nightmare sequences might have benefitted from slightly more light – it gets murky and we want to see what James sees, or at least what he is up to, but this is nitpicking. The visuals, the performances, and the tight direction fuse to make Spellbound an effective little spooky film.