Waste of time

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The Ten Steps is a short film that drew me in quickly and built up the tension very well. It is about a teenage girl who is home watching her little brother while her parents are out to dinner with the father's new boss. The girl, Kaite, calls and interrupts the dinner because the little brother is misbehaving--a minor annoyance. Then, the power goes out and she has to call back. Her father gives her instructions to check the fuse box in the cellar. This is when we find out that Katie is afraid to go in there, as some unknown event cause a panic attack earlier. The wife of the boss mentions that the house has a strange reputation, so as viewers, we begin to anticipate something bad about to happen. Katie agrees to go into the cellar so that her parents won't have to leave the dinner. The mother suggests that they get home, but the father begins to talk with Katie as she descends the steps...SPOILER: Katie counts as she takes each step. We hear noises and see the fear on her face. The tension builds as the father encourages her to continue. She gets to the tenth step, which is supposed to be the bottom--but she keeps counting. The film fades to the credits as we hear Katie count all the way to 52, her voice echoing as if in some underground cavern.

This film is one of many that are included in a collection of short films entitled "Shorts: Volume Four". This and the rest of the films in this series are interesting shorts made mostly but up and coming film makers.The film starts with a teenager and her younger brother at home alone. It seems their parents are out working on an important business deal over dinner with some clients. However, the kids interrupt the meal twice. The first time is pretty unimportant but the second time the power goes out and it means the teen needs to go into the dreaded dark cellar to fix the fuses--even though she has a phobia about this.While this film is incredibly simple, they did a great job of creating a creepy and malevolent mood. It ended well for a short, but boy did I wish it had lasted longer--I really wanted to see what would happen next! Good stuff.

Just became available on February 27. Check it out - the slow build up works very well as others have commented, and you'll feel your pulse pick up. Be warned though that the short is very dark and hard to see in places, even if you watch it in full screen mode. However, this does contribute heavily to the mood as you try to see what is going on in all the darkness. The ending really leaves you thinking, like a ghost story from childhood. Good spooky stuff! The director is apparently working on a full length feature now. There's enough atmosphere and tight grasp of storytelling here to really look forward to what he'll do next.

If film making is an analogy for food then horror movies are the ready meals you stick into a microwave . This probably explains why horror isn't all that well regarded in the cinematic world because any idiot can make a horror movie , all you have to do is stick someone in a remote location and if it's a dark location all the better , have some creepy sounds in the background that will have both the protagonists and audience gasping " what was that ? " and if that's not enough have some scary music . See any idiot can supposedly make a horror movie so why do most directors and screenwriters in the genre come up with movies that clichéd , stupid and most of all not scary in the slightest ? THE TEN STEPS by writer/director Bredan Muldowney contains every single cliché you have ever seen in every single horror movie . It's set in a remote country house where Katie a young teenager is babysitting on her younger brother Stephen because her parents are networking the father's new boss . There's scenes set in the dark with a mood enhancing soundtrack but within one minute of the running time I'd already jumped out of my skin and as Stephen McKeon's musical score increased the tension I felt my heart beat increase until the shock ending when my jaw hit the floor I can not praise this short film enough . BBC 2 are having a series of short films on The learning Zone slot and this is the best one they've shown . In fact this is almost certainly the most memorable short film I have ever seen in my entire life . It's brilliantly effective and isn't it obscene that absolute garbage like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and THE EXORCIST are hyped while no one has ever heard of THE TEN STEPS ? If I have any criticism it's that this is maybe too effective and I will have a problem sleeping , but apart from that I salute you Brendan Muldowney and I hope that your obvious talent leads to the rewards you deserve