What makes horror horrifying? In the case of Locked In, the movie created by our Grade 12 English class, I’m surprised it’s there at all. But, somehow, somewhere, we do find moments in our no-budget student film that make you jump. The production might have been a low-key failure, but the movie ended up having some hidden greatness in it. Some of the camerawork and shots are especially incredible, and I want to give props to the people that made that happen (directors, cinematographers, and storyboarders). Look at how great some of these shots are that I snagged from the movie.

We do also find some horror in the horror movie (thank god) that actually works. But why does it work?

Let’s look at the Elements of Aversion, as written by Elizabeth Barriette. They’re split into two categories: Absence and Presence.

In absence falls all of the questions: what we don’t know and how these questions haunt us. What are those things? Are they human? and Can they be stopped? are all questions you’ll find yourself asking when watching Locked In. Although you may also ask yourself “What in the world is going on, and why do none of these characters do anything that makes sense?” on a few occasions, the core questions come out, and we are scared of these “figures” in the masks because we can’t really be sure what they are. They seem to appear and disappear at an inhuman rate, and do not act or move like a person would. This choice in making them inhuman was integral to making these elements of absence work properly. To fear them, we cannot know too much about them, and I think this is accomplished well, especially in a few key scenes where they seem to appear out of thin air.

We then have the elements of presence, in which what we know and what comfort us is intruded upon. Here we must face helplessness, urgency, and we find our horrific rhythm. I think in certain scenes, this has been done quite well. The helplessness that each character feels when faced with the deaths of their classmates translates relatively well,  and once the rhythm picks up, it is balanced quite well with the releases of death.

I think that this movie shows more than we give it credit for. While it may not be a masterpiece, it does show, in small parts, that we do understand horror. And we learned that it’s a lot harder to translate on to a screen that it seems to be.

Especially within a two-week time limit.

If you’re interested, here’s a low-res version of it for your viewing…uh…pleasure?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwD8aCgTo30&t=1s