There is one thing you need to keep in mind when seeing The Unseen: they made it for the Cleveland 48 Hour Film Project. They were given a character, a prop, and a line that must be spoken at some point in the film. They then have 48 hours to make an entire short film. With that being said, The Unseen did it’s best with what they were given. Within the parameters, they did – pretty well. I can’t imagine how difficult putting together a horror short within 48 hours must be. So, I applaud their valiant effort.

The Unseen is the story of three siblings living with their stepdad, Jeremy Lee (Vincent Sarowatz), and learning to move on after their mother’s disappearance. The middle blind sibling, Madison Rose (Makenna Weyburne), decides it’s time to search through her mother’s belongings in the attic.  As she searches, she soon discovers the circumstances behind their mother’s disappearance may be more sinister than believed. I’m going to take a wild guess that the prop they needed to use was a bow and arrow. That bow and arrow was overly stressed and overused. At one point while watching, I thought, “we get it. There’s a bow and arrow.” I also didn’t realize how easy it is to push an arrow into someone’s sternum or how easily a blind gal who has never held one could aim it… But according to The Unseen, it’s pretty easy.

I had two main issues with The Unseen. First, the motivation behind the deaths wasn’t apparent. Why are these people being killed? What does our killer gain from their deaths? Or if the killer likes to kill for fun, why isn’t that known? Second, the acting by Vincent Sarowetz and the eldest sister, April (Morgan Paige), fell flat. It nearly flattened the whole film. But again, they were given a total of 48 hours to make this. So who knows what could be happening behind the scenes? I have to hand it to The Unseen. It had a relatively solid storyline, scenes that gave me the ickies (that’s a good thing when watching horror films), and a satisfactory ending. So no regrets on this viewer’s part for having seen it.

I give The Unseen 6 out of 10 arrows for high-quality production, unlikely villains, unlikely heroes, and giving its viewers an ending they can cheer for.

The Unseen
RATING: NR
Runtime: 9 minutes and 25 seconds
Directed By:
Written By:

About the Author

I like horror films, haunts, immersive theater, my cat, and butter.