DWELLER OF THE TWILIGHT VOID - REVIEW

DWELLER OF THE TWILIGHT VOID

 

Director : Peter Don Ravlin

Starring : Sherill Quinn, Alex Gibney, Caitlin Morse, Mitchell Ritter 

Runtime : 12 minutes

Genre : Short, Horror 

Digital - Color - 2:35:1

Language : English

Country : USA

2023

Storyline

One night April, a newspaper reporter, comes home to find a man wanted by police hiding in her apartment. He has come to warn her that an evil entity has come into their town, and only they can stop it. Is he a madman? Or is something really lurking in the dark?

 

© Peter Don Ravlin

Dweller of the twilight void is a surprising and innovative short film in the rhythmic and stage process. The director Peter Don Ravlin has experimented with the horror genre in his own way in order to break away from the traditional narrative codes. 

Throughout the story there is a real experimental side where the viewer is let go to travel without a reference point to a hallucinogenic and nightmarish universe in which face to face murderous demonic souls soaked with blood.  We will then notice a clear work on the color palette including red, blue, purple tones perceived in a chiaroscuro making us think at times of the aesthetics of the Italian giallo and Dario Argento in particular, who himself will influence many filmmakers modernists such as Nicolas Winding Refn.

The director Peter Don Ravlin (Behind the scenes)

The editing here is dynamic and intense, the sound effects accentuate the gore aspect, the addition of various interior voices brings us back to a psychological aspect and a constant threat, the anxiety-inducing music creates a certain unease. All the ingredients coincide with each other to achieve this strange atmosphere. It is important to emphasize that the film also has a minimalist and natural aspect, thus opposing this horrific staging mentioned. 

© Peter Don Ravlin

Indeed, there is a point of view anchored in reality which is put forward in particular for the dialogue sequences between April (Sherill Quinn) and Darren (Alex Gibney). We notice a certain sobriety in the interior decor of the house and the absence of visual and sound artifice, which creates a shift.

Let us mention the involvement of the actors who act like disturbing wax dolls.

To conclude, the film focuses above all on aesthetics and the senses with significant visual and sound domination, and where inner madness takes hold of evil to carry out its dismal and murderous path.

By Hallucinea Film Festival