Amygdala is a short fifteen minute award winning Danish language horror film that has been shown at various film festivals around the world, and which has now been released on YouTube. Written and directed by Kenneth Lykkehus Truelson (Sticks, The Hitchhiker), it tells a dark story that felt like a companion piece to a larger film.
The short is set against the backdrop of a Denmark that is experiencing a nationwide viral outbreak that leaves its victims homicidally violent. Simone (Emma Katrine Sjøberg) is at home looking after her ill younger sister, Frederikke (Pernille Svendsen), with their mother having not returned after having left the house to visit a neighbour. That night, Simone is startled to see a strange figure standing outside the house (Kim Sønderholm - Harvest, Sinister Visions), and even more so when he breaks in.
The film covers a lot of ground from the opening news report playing out on a radio, that creates the impression of a The Crazies type situation. With Simone's teenage sister ill, it became apparent where this would likely end up. While the intruder is clothed in darkness and never fully shown on camera, it was still cool to see Sønderholm back on screen, in the early days of this blog I couldn't seem to move without him turning up in various films I had been sent for review. The characters were all fine, but with a short run time I never got any kind of impression of what the characters were like. Special effects were at a minimum, but there was one suitably bloody effect used for when a character gets glass in their foot, and a decent amount of blood when it was called for. While the story wasn't too surprising, it was dark, and had a couple of unexpected moments to it.
Bleak and moody, Amygdala told its story in an effective way. I thought the use of light and shadow was well done, and its self contained story was paced nicely. The film can currently be seen on YouTube.
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