Eyestring Review: Eight Minutes of Creepiness
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Well, this was pretty creepy for an eight minute short horror film! Created by Javier Devitt, and Alena Chinault, ‘Eyestring’ stars Alena as Veronica, a young woman grappling with a strange string protruding from her eyes.
The film opens with Veronica speaking on what appears to be a therapy call, only to reveal she’s dialed into a randomized hotline where callers rarely speak to the same person twice. She shares her thoughts on loneliness and isolation, and is told to “follow your mind’s eye”, a piece of advice that marks the unsettling start of her mysterious eye troubles.
Just people touching their eyes can get a few people uneasy (including me), so the body-horror in ‘Eyestring‘ instantly made me uncomfortable and scared for whatever was happening to Veronica. The young protagonist scrambles around to find a solution to her weird problem. And as a viewer, your first thought is, “Why is she not going to an eye doctor?!” But then you think, oh well, she probably doesn’t have health insurance, and that’s truly the terrifying silent aspect of the tale: that people cannot afford healthcare. Is ‘Eyestring‘ a metaphorical criticism of the health system? Not sure.
The other way to look at ‘Eyestring‘ is through Veronica’s mental health perspective. She rarely steps out of her house, is lonely, probably depressed, and just when she is told to follow her “mind’s eye,” the creepy protrusion forces her out of her home, out of her comfort zone, pushing her to find answers to her problem. Although she doesn’t do a lot, eventually goes back home and simply starts resorting to simpler, desperate steps. And just when she thinks she might’ve solved her problem, things get worse!
Maybe it’s a metaphor for her not doing enough to cleanse herself from whatever it is that’s holding her back, so the darkness within her grows despite her superficial efforts to get rid of it. Damn, I wasn’t trying to turn this review into an explainer, but oh well.
The cinematography is simple, straightforward, and the eye-thing is disturbing to say the least. Overall, ‘Eyestring’ is an interesting little film, and even though the ending is almost comedic and abrupt, it offers plenty of food for thought for the thinking viewer.
Rating: 7 on 10. The film is now on Alter’s YouTube channel.
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