Horror Short Review: Cicada (2023)

From Burnt Mill Road comes Cicada, a horror short written and directed by Jacob Arbittier, and starring Justin Gubersky, Vicki Hanson, and Perry Polito.

At barely two minutes long, there’s not lot to get into with Cicada but Jacob Arbittier manages to make a notable horror with the time. One where a man returns home late one evening to find his mother has passed away in her sleep.

He doesn’t have much time to grieve though as something is about to hatch from within her.

It’s an interesting premise without much in the way of substance and focused mainly on delivering a pair of jump scares. Neither of which are particularly good, something that also applies to what comes out of her.

This is a short that really should have left a lot for the imagination to fill in. Particularly as the sound effects and make-up are what really add the terror here. Imagine not seeing what emerges and still having the events play out as they do? It may have been much more frightening.

Still, for a short that is around two minutes long, a lot is packed in and its tells a concise story that ends in a dark way. Worth checking out because it is so short.