There’s no way to describe the feeling you would get walking back into your home, knowing an intruder had been in or is still in your house.
One of the most realised versions of horror stories in the modern era is home invasion. It’s evil invading suburbia and there’s no escape. Anyways, this is the opening reel of the horror short Nonno, where a man coming home notices one of his lights on and swinging back and forth, suggesting someone or something has been there.
Thinking its a micro-earthquake, he thinks nothing of it and talks to his wife on the phone. Right away the most recognisable thing about this house is the religious iconography littered around everywhere. This can’t be coincidence surely?
As the weird occurrences start to rack up, he goes to investigate in the basement, which is never a good sign in a horror film. He discovers a box of old photographs, again, red flags galore here.
What Nonno does really well is make you examine the whole frame of the shot, with subtle things going on in the background. It’s the ‘bomb under the table’ theory most famously spoken about Hitchcock. We know there is imminent danger, but the protagonist, while severely spooked, doesn’t know just how much peril they’re in.
Director Connor Martin builds up the tension until a chilling, yet refrained finale.
Nonno screens as part of HollyShorts Film Festival 2023.
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