An anonymous person staples up a flyer announcing a “Missing Dog.” with a sadly cute beagle on it.  Cut to: Ben (Erik Searle) in his kitchen, making pancakes for an unknown significant other. His girlfriend? His wife?  All we know is that he is practicing different ways to say “I’m sorry,” over and over again.  He seems sincere.

He takes the pancakes down to the basement and tries to give them to Amber, the young lady he has chained up there. He keeps trying to apologize, to explain why he had to do this to her, and has brought breakfast as a peace offering. She is having none of it, especially since Ben also has a young child, Henry, (Boy-Yo Korodan), chained up in the same room.  Ben tries to explain that Henry is a monster and must stay locked up, and she must understand that. Her situation is hopeless, and Ben is obviously insane.

Or IS he??  And what about that missing beagle?  Hmmmm?

Wicked Conclusions is a fun little twelve-minute scary short film that has a few decent twists to it, and even though the blood does freely flow by the time the credits roll, it still ends up being a little too timid in its execution and, ultimately, doesn’t say anything new.  It’s not a bad movie, or a boring one, and is, in fact, very well-made: direction, acting, editing all work together to make a good film.

I just wasn’t surprised by anything.  Now, I’m quite willing to admit that I see waaay more horror films than the average mook, and I might be a bit more jaded than most people, so there you go. Ultimately, I do recommend Wicked Conclusions, mostly because its black little heart is in the right place, and it’ll give you a fright or two. Head on down to the basement and enjoy!