Horror needs to redefine itself. The various Screams, Nightmares-on-Elm-Streets and the like have made their time. And if the changes to the genre come from a small overseas short movie, so be it! Unlike most horror shorts - at least those that circulate at genre festivals - this one reminds you more of Jack Clayton's "The Innocents" than most of the recent horror flicks. Shot in the style of "The Exorcist" (clean, slow and accurate as a mini-documentary), it tells you about a young guy who cannot sleep due to a sequence of repetitive bad dreams. It takes a short while to find out the dream is just a box for other nightmares that use the main one as a vehicle. Accompanied by a "classic style" soundtrack (no drums and electronics, at last!) and stylish photography, it develops its little story coherently and pleasantly. Welcome back, good old horror of the fifties!
Review of Xchange
