Starring: Jazmine Cornielle, Riley Whielan, Vikki Martin, and Gracie!
A gripping, almost silent horror short.
From its opening, Under Control is both visually and sonically compelling. In the horror genre, this is isn’t hard to attempt, but it is hard to do well, which this film absolutely does. Our un-named main character, played by Jazmine Cornielleis a 20 something woman living in what seems to be a big city flat, with her dog, is in the grip of what looks like an anxiety crisis.
Which takes us to the underlying concept of this film: feeding what you are most fearful of, even tortured by.
Technically, Under Control is an excellent film. The opening features a tracking shot that showcases inspired angles and great muted colours and cinematography, and the minimal cutting that there is at the beginning showcases dynamic, even fun framings- with one of my particular favourite being of a shot of our main character’s feet from under the bed- somehow more glamorous than scary.
Jazmine Cornielle’s performance is outstanding. In particular, her use of voice throughout the film is gifted. And in relation to sound, not only does the film feature a really good score, but also features musically distorted dialogue- in the only scenes where there is any- which is an inspired creative choice.
To return to the concept and topic of the piece, Under Control is a story of a young woman who is deeply haunted, seemingly by a traumatic recent experience although this isn’t explored in depth. Loneliness, anxiety, the inability to release pain in any healthy way features prominently, if suggestively, in this short. This is unfortunately quite an apt portrayal of what many in my generation feel like, at least some of the time. Under Control is definitely horror for our times.