Nightwish
Written and directed by Micha Andrea Meyer, ‘Nightwish’ is a horror drama short that stars Milena Vogt as Jenny and Flavio Leu as Thom.
Jenny is in love, and she thinks her boyfriend, Thom, is going to propose. However, fate (it seems) is cruel, and her lover ends up dumping her. This emotional trauma upends Jenny’s entire existence, and in her desperation, she turns to a shadowy figure who promises to bring her man back. To Jenny’s surprise, Thom indeed comes back, but he feels a little different. As Jenny and Thom try to make things official, a terrible secret will come to light ensuring devastating consequences for everyone involved.
Micha Andrea Meyer’s ‘Nightwish’ is inspired by a slew of ‘deal with the Devil’ type flicks but what makes ‘Nightwish’ exciting is the performances and the underlying subtext of it all. Jenny knows that the choice she made is wrong, and yet she is compelled to do so because she believes in her love. Her first mistake will lead us down a slew of bad choices as she ends up in a violent and bloody battle for survival. Part of what makes the film works is its simmering escalation that ups the ante gradually until its violent conclusion.
Milena Vogt as Jenny is perfect as she illustrates the star-crossed and desperate lover perfectly. There is an innocence to her character and her desire to hold on to the things she loves, even in the face of towering odds. Equally impressive is Flavio Leu as Thom, who brings out the devil may care attitude in his character with ease. Meyer’s script fleshes out the moral conundrum of the story nicely, and the blue and misty cinematography complements the fantasy horror genre of the story very well, with each shot of the film exuding extreme care. Equally impressive is the score, which combines the feel of the 80s with synth flawlessly. All in all, the film displays technical mastery on such a level that it leaves comparable feature films in the dust.
Scary, superb and packing a solid emotional punch, ‘Nightwish’ is a film that one wishes should have been a feature instead. From the direction to the cinematography and from the script to the performances, everything comes together nicely in Micha Meyer’s ode to the horror genre. We cannot wait to see Meyer tackle a horror feature next, and we are reluctant to give this film any less than five out of five stars.