Short Film Spotlight | "The Three Men You Meet At Night" Explores How A Walk Home Can Become A Terrifying Experience
9/12 ForReel Score | 3.5/5 Stars
Walking home alone at night can be a precarious endeavor. Even more so for women who are preyed upon by men with nefarious intentions. That’s the terror that The Three Men You Meet At Night builds upon. Beck Kitsis, writer and director of this tense short film, crafts a narrative that demonstrates the types of threats a young woman can encounter and the dread involved with these various scenarios.
Jess (Stella Baker) is walking home after a party in The Three Men You Meet At Night. Throughout the course of the evening, she encounters three different men: The Stranger (Tom Martin), creepily driving by in his pickup truck with a prominently placed pro-gun bumper sticker, The Friend (Barron Leung) who recognizes Jess from the party and offers her a ride, and The Guardian (Walker Hare) who is a police officer. In theory, each person she encounters should be more trustworthy than the last, but Jess finds out that at this time of night, it’s actually the exact opposite.
It's an unnerving tale that puts audiences in Jess’s shoes as she tries to make the right decisions in this journey home. But for Jess’s story, what’s scarier than the series of events that happen are the things that could’ve happened. For the most part, The Three Men You Meet At Night avoids excessive violence and horrific acts, but this short leads each scenario down the road just far enough for audiences to imagine how badly it could end up.
Suspense and tension is what The Three Men You Meet At Night uses to convey its message, and it's executed with great proficiency. It effectively keeps viewers on the edge of their seat about what’s going to happen next, making this a short film that will likely stick with you for a long time.
Acting and Casting - 1 | Visual Effects and Editing - 1 | Story and Message - 2 | Entertainment Value - 2 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 1 | Reviewer's Preference - 2 | What does this mean?
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