Horror Review Short: Pictured (2014)

From David F. Sandberg and Lotta Losten, the folks behind 2013 horror short Lights Out and the full-length feature film of the same name in 2016 comes Pictured. A 3-minute horror short to make you frightened to look away.

A very unsettling horror short, Pictured begins with a close up shot of an oil-style painting on a wall. In it, a woman stares malevolently out seemingly watching your every move. It’s the kind of picture that if you saw in real life, you’d get an uneasy feeling about it.

In another room, the sound of typing can be heard. It stops when a thump gets the woman who lives there, attention. She comes out into the hallway to see a potted plant has been knocked on the floor. However, it’s the picture on the wall that really puzzles her as the woman in it, is now facing a different direction.

The woman cleans up, but as she puts the rubbish away, another noise comes from the hallway. She returns to the picture to find the woman in it has now gone. Creepy, right? Check out the full short below to see what happens next.

It’s effective and builds up a strong sense of dread. The payoff perhaps isn’t as good as you’d hope but the journey there is excellent.