PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Some filmmakers are truly inspiring. Sometimes when I watch a film, I am overcome with emotion at the imagination and creativity that someone else poses. This is why I love film. I was recently given the opportunity to screen Director Melina Valdez’s movie, Sitting Across From Strangers Like Us, for the Boston Underground Film Festival. Watching this short honestly made me feel proud and gave me that sense of real movie magic storytelling that I haven’t felt in awhile. Let’s discuss!
What I love so much about this film is how in-depth the layers of this story really are. Strangers Sitting Across From Like Us is beyond a beautiful, horrifyingly relatable reality. This is going to be one short that sticks with for quite some time. It may only be about eight minutes long, but Melina Valdez’s short strikes you and gut punches you in your core. How much can someone endure before they give up on humanity and decide to fade away? The message behind this is so powerful and contains so much truth that we individuals ignore on a daily basis. How hard is it to have basic interaction with the human race? The inconvenience of displaying any common courtesy to a stranger has become foreign in our world these days. Sitting Across From Strangers Like Us depicts this social faux pas perfectly. I will admit that when I first started watching, I had no idea where this was going and, at the end, I was in total awe.
The shots in this short were crazy good. The cinematography is clearly on point with that of a major motion picture. I can see this whole cast and crew going far in this industry and can’t wait to see what they have in store for us in the future.
Final Thoughts
Sitting Across From Strangers Like Us forces you to look outside your own little tight niche box and examine your own harsh reality. Is this a bloody, gory film? No. But in my humble opinion, I think it is equally as horrifying as the most gruesome slasher. I hope when you watch this, you get the same feeling I did. Sitting Across From Strangers Like Us sends a message, and I truly hope that it doesn’t get lost in translation, because it is a show stopper.
