Killing Time (2019) - Short Horror Film Review

Killing Time is a short sixteen minute film that was directed and co-written by Scott Lake, and was a film that took me about sixteen minutes to locate on IMDB also, due to many many films coming out under that title!

A masked man sneaks around the home of a family one night where he systematically murders them all. Starting with the children, he then proceeds to kill the wife before waking the husband (Jay Allen Tucker - Pool Ghouls) up and taking him to the front room where he proceeds to try and explain his actions.

It is hard to really talk too much about this one as there are some pretty integral spoilers that would be needed to be known. Obviously filmed with an indie budget, there were elements  here that didn't look so great on camera, with an obvious lack of special effects. On the story side of things also there are parts you just have to accept and move past on. The integral twist is poorly explained within the short, mainly due to the short run time, both the viewer and characters are expected to just take it at face value despite the lack of much evidence.
Despite all that though, this told a captivating story, doing more with its silent moments than with its scenes of dialogue. He may be a man in a balaclava but there was something in the actors actions that made him seem familiar with the home he was in, leading me to guess the odd reveal before it happened. The first kill scene took me by surprise, though with just a sound effect to sell the kill it took me a few moments to realise it had even happened. After that I was more interested, the mystery of the piece keeping me wanting to know why the events were happening.

There was good atmosphere with Killing Time and credit is due for trying to tell a more 'out-there' story than you might expect. From the opening to the end I was engaged with this. There might have been some concessions to budget and story-telling time, but this was a decent short with a well paced tale and an effective soundtrack.

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