Certain horror films are so unnerving, their impact leaves an indelible brand on your psyche.

DARK WAKE is just such a horror film..

The short tells the story of an unnamed amnesiac (John Marcucci) who awakens in the middle of the night. A small, strange portal opens along his bedroom wall revealing the lower jaw of a demonic guide (Anne Shepherd).

The guide warns the man he is about to die.

The portal vanishes and the hallway leading to the man’s bedroom is suddenly enveloped in inky darkness.

The man notices something moving in the darkness. Suddenly, a creature straight out of Dante’s Inferno emerges.

Then creature attacks the man and begins devouring him.

The man awakens only to endure the experience of being consumed by hideous monsters over and over.

Despite the man questioning if he is in hell, the demonic guide insists the nightmare he is trapped in is not hell, because, as it chillingly states, “innocents have been held here.”

The guide tells him that in order to escape his fate, he must overcome his terror with a memory from his former life.

The man succeeds in reclaiming a memory and defeats the next attack, but then an even greater infernal mystery is revealed to him.

I’ll just be blunt here - DARK WAKE freaked me the hell out, and I enjoyed it.

Written and directed by Abdul Ali, the short boasts horrifying, award-worthy creature designs that seem heavily influenced by the work of director Guillermo del Toro.

The short’s visuals are dark, claustrophobic, and bizarre. However, what really sells its nightmare world is the sense of disorientation and visceral terror viewers share with the protagonist.

Adding to the surreal atmosphere of the short is the fact the protagonist’s reliability as a narrator is left in question.

Is he dreaming the entire experience, or is he having some sort of psychotic break? Is he actually trapped in some sort of hellish alternate dimension?

DARK WAKE doesn’t provide any clear answers - and that is what makes it such a chilling, disturbing, and compelling watch.

Watch DARK WAKE here…

Make sure to check out our podcast Eye On Sci-Fi. Join host and The 7th Matrix founder Rod T. Faulkner as he spotlights terrific indie SFF short films and web series.

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